‘I watched Leo walk over to the phone and stare directly into my eyes.’
A boyfriend’s video phonecall with his sleepy girlfriend has delivered him to viral stardom, after she fell asleep and her dog took over the conversation.
Sam Stine was on FaceTime with Brookelyn Bilski, whose dog Leo walked over into the view of the camera after she had drifted off.
“I watched Leo walk over to the phone and stare directly into my eyes,” Mr Stine, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, told the Press Association.
The post of four-year-old Leo on the phone call has been shared tens of thousands of times on Twitter and inspired others to share similar moments with their remote animals.
“I’m really surprised by the amount of attention the post got,” added Mr Stine. “Really glad people appreciate Leo as much as we do.”
Mr Stine said he had a “deep conversation about mental health and our feelings” with Leo.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A pup that was swept out to sea by a rip current must be feeling doggone lucky after her unlikely rescue off the San Diego coast.
Sadie, a black Labrador retriever-mix, stole away from the home where her owners were staying during a football game last month, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said in a social media post. While her owners tracked Sadie down the coast using an Airtag on her collar, surfers in Ocean Beach alerted lifeguards that a dog had been swept into the rip current near the jetty, officials said.
A U.S. Coast Guard boat and lifeguards searched the area after the dog disappeared into the channel, officials said. Lifeguards Garrett Smerdon and Jack Alldredge joined the search on personal watercraft and spent more than an hour looking. Then, they were told they’d only look for another 10 minutes.
“At that point, I kind of just said, ‘Please let us find this dog,’” Alldredge said.
Knowing that Labs are water dogs and fighters, there was a good chance Sadie was still alive, Smerdon said. They were called off, but while they were still far out, Alldredge thought he saw something.
“We got closer and closer, and then we realized it was her and we were pretty excited,” he said.
They raced over to Sadie.
“She was super happy to see us, for sure,” Smerdon said. “She was tired.”
Sadie, who was about a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) offshore near South Mission Beach when she was found, was transferred to a surf boat that brought her to shore, where she was reunited with her owners, officials said.
In a video message, Sadie's owners, Alexis Barcellos and Brandon Valdez, said they would be forever grateful.
Barcellos recalled in the video that just as the search was being called off, she heard a call on the radio that they had found the dog.
“And we kind of just held our breath, and they were like, and the dog is alive,” she said. “And we kind of just started crying right away.”
Sadie's paws and nails were badly damaged from trying to climb onto the jetty, so Barcellos and Valdez had to carry her around for about a week, Barcellos said Thursday. But she has been in great spirits and this week Sadie made her first trip to the pet store since the rescue to pick out a treat and took her first 1.5 mile (2.4 kilometers) walk.
“We are just beyond grateful she is home safe with us,” she said.
This photo released by San Diego Fire-Rescue shows Sadie, a black Labrador retriever-mix, on a lifeguard boat heading to shore after being rescued from the water near Mission Beach, San Diego, Nov. 23, 2025. (San Diego Fire-Rescue via AP)
This photo released by San Diego Fire-Rescue shows Sadie, a black Labrador retriever-mix, being picked up by her parents Brandon and Alexis after Sadie was rescued from the water near Mission Beach, San Diego, Nov. 23, 2025. (San Diego Fire-Rescue via AP)
This photo released by San Diego Fire-Rescue shows owner Alexis reuniting with Sadie, a black Labrador retriever-mix, after Sadie was rescued from the water near Mission Beach, San Diego, Nov. 23, 2025. (San Diego Fire-Rescue via AP)
