A golden retriever named Potato living his worst nightmare—being stuck at home with the spare human—turned to an item from his dad to seek comfort during his absence that left viewers sobbing.

Potato lives with his two owners, but one tends to top the list as his favorite time-and-time again, his dad. Meanwhile, his mom, who is known on TikTok as user @nikkikhrphl, is the “spare human.”

His dad recently went away for three days, which his mom told Newsweek via TikTok is a pretty normal amount of time when he goes away on a business trip or on a guy’s trip. And each time he’s gone, Potato starts a meltdown.

An August 15 TikTok video showed Potato already devastated after not seeing his dad for eight hours. It was only the first of three days his favorite person would be away from the house. To fill the void, Potato grabbed his dad’s shirt and cuddled with it, inhaling the scent of his human. He even slept with it the first night.

Dogs often steal their owner’s clothes. Some might use it as a toy, gnawing and tearing it up, while others, like Potato, like to sleep with the clothing item. The reason for this could be simply because they love that the clothes smell like their owners, an article from Wag Walking stated.

A dog’s strong sense of smell can pick up your scent on your clothes, even when washed. They view the clothing items as important. It makes them feel close to their owners. Canines might also steal clothing because they enjoy the softness.

However, this owner said she was the least bit surprised by seeing Potato on the bed with the shirt, accepting her fate as the spare human.

TikTok Users React

With over 159,800 views and 27,400 likes on TikTok as of Monday, people couldn’t stand the thought of this dog feeling alone, even though his second favorite human was still home.

One TikTok user wrote: “I would quit my job and stay home so fast.”

Another demanded: “Bring his daddy back right now!”

This dog’s actions aren’t uncommon. A third user posted: “My dog does this every time I leave the house. She finds whatever I slept in and drags it out to the living room with her lol.”

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.