Some family mysteries never get resolved. Parents lie to their kids for a ton of reasons—to protect them, to provide a magical experience, to get them to behave, or just to plain avoid a difficult topic.
This group is convinced that their friend’s parents lied to her for a host of reasons about her childhood dog, who they swear was switched out with a new dog at some point in her childhood.
Take a look at the pictures. Do you think this was just a case of a dog’s coat changing over the years (which happens) or a swaperoo?
Is This A Different Dog?
In a viral TikTok with more than 3.2 million views, Manda Millman (@mandamillman) shared a debate that has consumed her friend group since college.
Growing up, she had a dog named Cuddles, a stray the family took her in when she was about 9 years old and died when she was in high school.
The controversy with Cuddles didn’t start until years later when childhood dogs came up with her Boston friends.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ I had the best childhood dog ever named Cuddles,” she says.
When asked what kind of dog, she explained that nobody really knew. Cuddles had been a stray, black as a puppy, and then turned golden as she got older. Her friends were skeptical. So she texted her mom for photos.
Her mom sent two. The first was of a brown and black puppy that looks like a German Shepherd mix. The second was a grown blonde dog that looks like a golden retriever. Her friends took one look and lost it.
“That’s not the same dog,” they told her. She insisted it was, but they didn’t believe her.
“So many people have been brought into this,” she says.
The prevailing theory among skeptics is that the first Cuddles died or went missing at some point, and her parents quietly replaced her with a different dog without ever telling the kids.
Now, after years of hearing the same argument, Millman is starting to doubt herself.
“When someone tries to hear something over and over and then you start to believe it, like now I don’t know,” she says.
“Cuddles 1 in a million or 2 in a million?” she captioned the post.
Can A Dog Actually Change Colors?
Yes, and it’s more common than most people realize. According to Onalaska Animal Hospital, coat color changes in dogs happen for several reasons, with genetics being one of the biggest.
Some breeds naturally shift color as they develop. For example, Dalmatians are born white and develop their spots over time, while Yorkshire Terriers and Schnauzers are known for coats that lighten or darken with age. Sun exposure can also bleach darker coats to reddish or brownish tones over time, similar to how human hair lightens in the sun.
Superior Care Pet notes that puppy coat color changes are completely normal. Many puppies experience significant shifts in color and texture as their adult fur grows in, which can look strikingly different from what they had as pups.
Two pigments, eumelanin and pheomelanin, control coat color, and genetics determine how those pigments are distributed and concentrated as the dog matures.
Commenters React
“Changing colours is definitely possible, changing breed is less plausible,” a top comment read.
“Your mom every time you ask about cuddles,” a person said.
“Did Cuddles ever visit a farm for a few days?” another wrote.
“You know her mom was totally panicking when she got that text,” a commenter wrote.
@mandamillman Cuddles 1 in a million or 2 in a million? #dogsoftiktok #cuddles #debate
BroBible reached out to Manda Millman for comment via TikTok direct message and comment. We’ll be sure to update this if they respond.