How Do You Deal with a Reactive Dog? 1 Couple's Answer May Come as a Surprise (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Janet Humphrey’s family with Ellie the dog.Photo:myitalianfamily/TikTok8;Janet Humphrey

myitalianfamily/TikTok8;Janet Humphrey

What do you do when your senior rescue dog has trouble behaving when you have visitors? If you’re one Georgia couple, you get creative.

When Janet Humphrey’s parents Barb and Marty rescued their 13-year-old rescue dog, Ellie, seven years ago, they were asked to answer this question: “What will you do with Ellie if it doesn’t work out?” Their answer was “we don’t return family members.”

Janet — whose handle is @myitalianfamily — shared avideoof her parents and Ellie to TikTok, showing just how creative the couple was willing to get when it came to keeping Ellie comfortable. Their solution: A “behavior basket.”

In one clip, Ellie sits between Barb and Marty in her “behavior basket” while the pair enjoy ice cream sundaes. Janet captioned the video, “Wish I was exaggerating but I’m not.”

“When they met Ellie, she was being housed in a large room the size of a garage with about 15 other dogs,” Janet says. “Ellie seemed defeated and kept to herself.” Until she met Marty. Janet says, “Mom put Ellie in Dad’s lap, and she hasn’t left his side since.”

Though Ellie “loved Dad immediately,” she also “warmed up to Mom over the years.” Unfortunately, “Visitors are difficult on Ellie, which is how the ‘behavior basket’ came to be.”

Ellie in her behavior basket.myitalianfamily/TikTok

myitalianfamily/TikTok

“They initially used the basket for laundry and would give her rides around the house,” Janet says of her parent’s invention. “This evolved into the ‘behavior basket’ when the holidays were approaching. Since Dad does all the cooking and since extended family is hard on Ellie, we felt that it was worth a try.” And thus, the “behavior basket” was born. Thanks to the invention, Ellie even got toenjoy the holidayswith her family.

Since posting the video on Dec. 12, 2024, it has amassed 2.2 million views and been liked over 163,000 times. Janet says her parents didn’t believe her when she told them the video went viral. “I finally got them on the app and now they love following along.”

As for Janet, she’s just happy to be showing the world what she has always known: “I always knew my parents were special, and I’m grateful for TikTok so I can share them with the world, and so they can see how special they are to the world.”

source: people.com