- Emilee Hassanzadeh was visiting her hometown in Minnesota when she and her sister decided to go to Starbucks and take her dog Wendell
- But when the dog mom went to grab Wendell, she realized she’d forgotten his leash
- The sisters started searching around for something they could use, before landing on an extension cord
- Hassanzadeh recorded Wendell’s adventures on the extension cord and posted it to TikTok, where it’s since gone viral, amassing more than 400,000 views
Emilee Hassanzadeh and her dog Wendell were visiting her home state of Minnesota when the pair decided to drive 20 minutes to Hassanzadeh’s sister’s house to catch up.
She put Wendell, who’s 4 years old, in the car and turned on the seat heater. Once they arrived, she took him out and let him play around her sister’s house while they chatted. After a while, Hassanzadeh and her sister decided to get some exercise and head to Starbucks for coffee, just a half-mile away.
But when the dog mom went to grab Wendell, she realized she’d forgotten something.
“I didn’t bring a leash,” Hassanzadeh tells PEOPLE exclusively. “So we started searching around [my sister’s] house for something we could use. She’s never had a dog before, and I’m the crazy dog lady of the family, so it was really shocking that she didn’t have one.”
“I’m like, ‘Okay, do you have a rope? A ribbon? Maybe an infinity scarf?’ ” the N.Y.C.-based actress and singer recalls. “My sister had just moved into a new house and was doing this minimalist thing, so she didn’t have any odds and ends, which is so weird to me. I have tons of odds and ends.”
Emilee Hassanzadeh
Then, out of the corner of her eye, Hassanzadeh spotted an extension cord that her phone charger and laptop were plugged into. “I’m thinking, ‘Can we use that? Is that crazy? Are people going to look at us funny?’ ” she remembers. “My sister’s like, ‘Just leave him at home, Emilee.’ But I’m thinking, no way — he needs a pup cup, and he wants to get his steps in too. We’ve been cooped up in Minnesota, and it’s snowing.”
So, Hassanzadeh proceeded to tie the extension cord around Wendell’s harness, and the sisters set out on their way. The whole time, Hassanzadeh says she felt ridiculous.
“It probably didn’t look that weird, but I felt crazy because all his leashes in New York are designer,” she adds. “He’s a stylish dog. He’s got some Fendi — we call it ‘Wendy and Fendi’ — and all my friends make fun of me for spending more money on his clothes and accessories than I do on my own. So, the fact that I’m walking him with an extension cord is just … ridiculous.”
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Once the sisters and Wendell arrived at Starbucks, Hassanzadeh went to order a drink from the barista. As she was ordering, feeling self-conscious about Wendell being on an extension cord, she looked at the barista and said, ” ‘Hey, total disclaimer — I am not trying to electrocute my dog. I forgot a leash, and I really didn’t want him to miss out on a pup cup.’ ”
Instantly, the barista laughed and replied, “Oh my God, you did the right thing. We’re so glad you brought him!”
“Everyone thought it was hilarious, and they were cracking up,” she adds, recalling the rest of the customers in the store reacting to the extension cord mishap. “Wendell was honestly just thrilled because he was getting so much attention from everyone — pets, kisses, you name it.”
Emilee Hassanzadeh
In the moment, Hassanzadeh pulled out her phone and recorded Wendell’s adventures in Starbucks on the extension cord. Later, she posted it to TikTok, where it’s since gone viral, amassing more than 400,000 views.
She says this incident has made her realize how in addition to her phone, wallet and keys, she needs to add “dog leash” to her checklist of things to always have with her.
“I posted it thinking my friends would see it and laugh,” she says. “Then I went to a yoga class, and when I got out, I saw that it had hundreds of thousands of views. I was like, ‘Oh my God, what?’ I honestly wasn’t expecting that at all, and it made me laugh so much reading through all the comments. There were so many people sharing what they’ve had to use to walk their dogs in a pinch when they’ve forgotten a leash.”
“This one woman said, ‘Yeah, I had to walk my dog with a microphone.’ And that was hysterical — like, that’s pretty on-brand for us. I’m a singer, and I do have a microphone lying around my house. Someone else mentioned using pantyhose. Another girl talked about using her car charger to walk her mini dachshund. There was a tube sock. People were using everything under the sun, and I was just cracking up scrolling through the comments.”
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