A mom was initially baffled when her toddler son started walking around with socks in his mouth, but it didn’t take her long to discover the sweet reason why.

For the past few weeks, Janaye Johanna Stir’s one-year-old son Dawson has taken to putting his socks in his mouth. “He always has them in his mouth,” Stir told Newsweek. “Sometimes he takes them off his feet and puts them in his mouth.”

However, it’s only recently that she realized where Dawson was getting the idea from: his black labrador best friend Sage. Stir has always been keen on having Dawson grow up with a dog sibling or two, and the family also have a German Shepherd called Harlee. “It teaches companionship at an early age, and also how to treat another living being with kindness and respect,” she said.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of benefits though. According to a 2022 study from the journal Preventive Medicine Reports children aged between two and five who engaged with a dog through walks and play benefited from increased physical activity, better sleep and reduced screen time.

The special bond between Dawson and Sage does come with some very minor drawbacks, with the sock habit being the main one. Sage can’t be blamed for that kind of behavior though given what she used to do until fairly recently.

Sage was a hunting dog who retrieved ducks and waterfowl and had an American Kennel Club junior title. However, a couple of months ago she was diagnosed with a rare condition called Exercise Induced Collapse (EIC).

“She had an episode during a training event and it was awful she became completely paralyzed in her back legs,” Stir, from Washington state, said. “After a confirmed test that she does in fact have EIC, she is now retired from being a working dog and spends her days playing with her younger brother, our son, Dawson.”

A keen snuggler, Sage has quickly become Dawson’s partner in crime. “Dawson loves to use her as a step stool to get onto the couch because he’s still not tall enough to pull himself up,” Stir said. “She loves helping him out. They roll balls back and forth to each other and Sage is always under his highchair getting the food Dawson hands to her.”

So while it might not be the most desired of behaviors to have Dawson carrying socks around in his mouth, to Stir it’s all worth it knowing her son and her dog are “best friends.

“She’s always by his side and him vice versa,” Stir added. The mom uploaded a sweet video of the pair, both with socks in mouth, to her TikTok account, @janayejohannastir, captioned “sock siblings.” It went down a storm online, amassing more than 40,000 views since being shared earlier this month.

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