My Dog’s Long-Lost Sister Turned Out To Be... My Other Dog

“We rescued the pair when they were around two years old,” says Julie over Zoom. The small dogs are sitting on her lap – and they’re beyond cute. “The hairy one is Betty,” says Julie, pointing towards the little dog’s gorgeous tuft and impressive eyebrows. “And this tiny one is Bean.” Julie is clearly as in love with the two dogs as they are with each other. “Oh look, they just kissed,” says Julie. “They’re always doing that.”

For Julie, the story begins six years ago, when she and her husband were living in Canada. Their first rescue pup, Pebbles, had passed away a few months earlier and they were devastated. “She was 17 and we’d had her for 12 years,” says Julie, “she was my sidekick.” They knew they’d get another dog one day, but it was Julie’s husband who suggested it was time – “he knew I wasn’t coping.”

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That’s when Julie came across a “bonded pair” who needed to be rehomed together. “They’d been in either a shelter or foster care for more than a year because no one wanted them,” she says. “I just can’t imagine no one wanting them! I’d already fallen in love with them from the photos.”

But at less than a year old, they’d been found as strays on the streets of Texas – “there’s loads of stray Chihuahuas in Texas,” explains Julie. Apparently, they’d been picked up by animal control, separately but on the same day. They’d been placed in a high-kill shelter and “we were told that, because of overcrowding in the shelter, they were thrown in the same kennel”. Julie thought they’d bonded over the trauma of it all and that’s what made them inseparable. 

It was right before Christmas when the dogs were moved to a foster home in Canada, Julie and her husband went to meet them when they’d only been in the country for about 48 hours. “We spent probably a couple of hours with the family. But I just knew as soon as I saw them,” says Julie. “I feel like they knew too. They were coming home with us. It just fit.” 

When the couple moved to London five years ago for Julie’s husband’s job, she decided she’d document the journey on Instagram through Betty and Bean’s eyes. “I said I’d only move to England if the dogs came, too,” laughs Julie. “And I wouldn’t have done it if they’d had to be quarantined or anything like that as they’d already been through enough traumatic experiences.”

As they moved in 2020, London was still very quiet because of Covid lockdowns. “It was empty so we’d explore the sites of the capital with the dogs,” says Julie. “They were like little tour guides.” But now they’re bonafide dogfluencers – with more than 90k followers.

As doggy influencers, Betty and Bean get to try out lots of cool new things and so they were sent a DNA testing kit from Wisdom Panel*. Julie used the swab to collect saliva from their mouths. She packaged them up and sent them off, eagerly awaiting the results. Julie thought they might discover some interesting info. “Maybe that Bean has some Italian Greyhound in her, or, you know, that Betty has some Miniature Schnauzer,” says Julie. 

But there’s a lot more to Betty and Bean’s story. Turns out, they knew something that Julie didn’t: they were obviously BFFs, but there was way more to it than that…

All the results are posted online and so Julie logged in to check them. “Bean was first in line, so I clicked on her profile. I see her picture and I’m reading about Bean, and then it says relatives,” says Julie. “And so I scroll, and the first dog I see is Betty – because it’s the picture I uploaded! And I’m like, no, wait, what?” 

For a good ten minutes, Julie was thinking she’d messed up the swabs, because the results said that more than just friends, Betty and Bean are full sisters – same mum and dad – they were family all along...

“At first, I couldn’t believe it, I look at them every day and wondered how I could miss it,” says Julie, “but now I see it – even though one’s hairy and one’s hairless, when you look at their face and their eyes and their nose and their mannerisms, they are very similar dogs.” 

It’s been the most magical journey. “We’ve loved watching them growing in confidence as we made them feel safe and secure because we gave them a family,” says Julie, “but when we moved here, we didn’t know anyone, they made us feel like we weren’t alone like we did for them when we rescued them.” 

I’m not crying, you’re crying. Aren’t sisters the best? And doggy sisters at that. Thankfully, these two found each other and now Julie knows their secret. Who knows where their story will take them next – an uncle in Peru? A brother in Poland? There’s bound to be another plot twist along the way and we’re here for it. 

You can follow Betty & Bean’s London life on Insta, find out more about your dog‘s history with a Wisdom Panel DNA test*.

*Wisdom is a Mars brand. We think the products are pretty cool, but we don’t play favourites. So, when a product has family ties, we’ll be real with you.