“They Made the Cousin Sleepover Happen” — In-Laws’ Dog Sneaks Into Woman’s Car, Stays Quiet

When you were a kid, did you ever try to plan a sleepover without your parents knowing? Maybe you wanted to get your stories straight with your friends or cousins before approaching them with the idea or think of the most strategic time to ask.

Or maybe you just thought you could stow away in your cousin's car in the hopes that you'd arrive at their place before your parents found out.

Well if you chose the latter method, then you and a chocolate lab named Finn, who is featured in author and TikTok M.T. Zimny's (@mtzimny) recent video have a lot in common. In the clip, she delineated how the adorable pup was able to sneak his way into her car without her knowing after a trip to her in-laws' house.

Zimny begins her clip seated on the floor of her kitchen as she breaks down the story.

"Thirty minutes into our hour drive home from our in-laws' last night, my mother-in-law sent me a text asking if her dog was in my car. And I was like, 'There's no way her dog is in my car because he's a chocolate lab.'"

At this point in the video, she pans the camera around to reveal a golden retriever lying down on the floor of her kitchen, looking down at their paws. So far, throughout her TikTok, viewers were presented with two golden retrievers, but no sign of a chocolate lab.

After all, it's not as if a chocolate lab is a tiny, quiet dog that could somehow go by unnoticed while driving, right?

She went on to explain, however, that this is exactly what happened. "I loaded the goldens myself. I would know if there was a chocolate lab in my car. I decided to check just to be safe," she said.

Then, she pans the camera to reveal that there is a chocolate lab in her home. Zimny went on to explain how the canine caper went down. "And, um, anyway, this is Finn. Finn says hi. And he's at my house until Wednesday now. Say hi to Finn."

Judging from the caption she appended to her video, it would seem that Finn was having so much fun with his golden retriever pals that he decided he wanted to go home with them and keep the party going.

Zimny writes in a text overlay of her video: "Finn is a good, sneaky boy, and now he gets to keep me company during late night writing sessions for the next few days."

In a follow-up video, Zimny explained just how Finn was able to get inside of her car without anyone noticing.

"If you're one of the many people wondering how this beautiful gentleman snuck into a car," she begins, and as she says this, Finn does something very adorable. Seeing her outstretched hands, he rests his head on her palms, prompting a laugh from the author.

She continues to talk, while giving the dog some light face scratches: "Without anyone noticing. This is a picture that I took of the dogs today."

As she speaks, the photograph in question shows the three dogs in the back of her vehicle.

The golden retrievers are immediately visible in the photograph. However, in a darkened portion of the car's trunk, Finn can be seen crouching in the corner. Even in daylight, it can be easy to miss the dog, especially if Finn was covering the lighter fur of his face.

In the dark of night, it's entirely understandable how one could miss seeing him in the car. Zimny continued, "As you can see, you can't see Finn very well. And when we packed them into the car it was indeed very dark out."

The TikToker takes a pause in her narration to check in on Finn, asking him: "You doing good buddy?"

According to her, Finn was having a great time after his stowaway adventure. "He is having a very fun stay. He's obviously made himself very comfy."

She then pans the camera around to show that Finn's enjoying some lounge time with the other dogs in Zimny's household. "The gang's all here, look at that." All three of the dogs are laying on the floor enjoying what seems to be a midday communal snooze session.

Before closing out her video, Zimny laughs again at the situation, her face cheek to cheek with Finn's, she asks him again through chuckles: "How you doing?" before the clip comes to an end.

She added in an additional caption: "Finn is a master of disguise and extremely sneaky. All he had to do was lie down and BAM. He looked like a golden retreiver’s shadow."

Folks who responded to Zimny's video found the entire situation to be both extremely cute and hilarious. "Goldens whispering to Fin on the way home, 'Just stay quiet a little longer and she'll have to let you sleep over,'" one penned.

Another said, "When kids make plans without informing the parents."

And someone else echoed the aforementioned sentiment: "They made the cousin sleepover happen!"

One person speculated as to what Finn's thought process was with regards to the sleepover. "Finn said, it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission."

And according to Zimny, Finn has tried this stunt in the past. However, this is the only time he's ever been able to successfully pull it off. "He usually tries to jump in the car with the goldens but this is the first time he’s gotten away with it!"

Well, if that isn't a lesson in persistence, then what is?