Dog’s Reaction to Seeing Cleaner He’s Been ‘BFFs’ With Since He Was Puppy

A pet owner has shared a heartwarming video chronicling his dog’s lifelong friendship with the cleaner in their building.

Skubie Mageza is familiar to millions as an on-air host for ESPN, but to his goldendoodle. Skrapie, he is simply dad. “I got Skrapie from a breeder in the Quad Cities in Illinois. I lived there when I was a sports anchor at a local TV station called KWQC-TV6,” Mageza told Newsweek.

“I knew about the breeder, but at the time I couldn’t afford a dog and my schedule couldn’t support one,” Mageza said. “After getting my job at ESPN, I decided I wanted to get one in the spring, and they were having a litter. So, six months after moving to Connecticut, I flew back to the Quad Cities to pick Skrapie up and fly him back.”

Skrapie shares Mageza’s love of sports or, more specifically, ball games. “He loves footballs, even though he can’t really play with them because of their size. Anything that has ‘ball’ at the end of it is his favorite,” Mageza added. “His favorite thing to do is play fetch. He loves playing with his ball.”

Skrapie’s other great passion is making friends. “He just wants to meet new friends whether it’s dogs or people,” Mageza said.

Socializing with humans and other animals is an important part of any healthy dog’s day-to-day life. A 2023 study published in the journal Evolution, Medicine & Public Health saw over 21,000 dog owners complete a survey on the details around their dog’s home environment.

From these results, researchers were able to identify five factors that had the most significant impact on canine health. They included finances, owner’s age, neighborhood stability and social time spent with people or other animals.

For Skrapie, that social time includes his regular encounters with Alexandra, the cleaner in his building, who is originally from Colombia. Their special bond was showcased in a video with almost 1 million views that Mageza shared to TikTok under the handle @skubiemageza. It captures Skrapie’s adorable reaction every time he sees his “BFF”, best forever friend.

“He met Alexandra when he was a small little puppy. Since he loves people, he introduced himself to her when I was taking him on a walk,” Mageza said. “Her energy and high voice is something that automatically caught his attention and set the foundation for their bond.

“From that point on, he makes a conscious effort to say hi to her every time he sees her, and you can tell it automatically puts him and her in a great mood,” Mageza added.

In the video, Skrapie can be seen jumping up to embrace his human friend, who is only too happy to pet her canine pal. The clip also shows how the goldendoodle gets excited at the sound of the vacuum cleaner because “he knows it’s her”. He will often wait by the door to be let out to go and see her out in the hall and barks a hello in her direction any time he sees her.

Mageza put the video together because their interactions are so wholesome and he wanted to share that positive energy with his followers on social media. “Every time they get together, it brings a warm feeling to my heart, so I knew other people would feel the same way.”

That has certainly proven to be the case with the video racking up over 216,000 likes. “I know it makes her workday every single time she interacts with him,” one viewer wrote, with another commenting: “You know that Lady has a good heart, that pup knows it!”

A third posted, “He would be the sole reason I kept my job,” with a fourth adding: “every ounce of this is precious. her baby voice transcends language barriers.”

Mageza isn’t surprised at the reaction to their relationship, because he feels exactly the same way. He can even be heard laughing along in the background at various points throughout the video.

“It’s just so raw and pure,” Mageza said. “Here’s a lady who we know is working very hard at her job cleaning the building and she has a little best friend that is not afraid of the vacuum and loves her like his own mother.”

Mageza truly believes the bond between Skrapie and Alexandra is a special one: “It’s powered by the most powerful force in the world, and that’s love.”

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.