When dog owners catch their pups right in the middle of some mischief, they usually step in without wasting a second.
What follows is that all-too-familiar guilty-yet-adorable puppy face—the one that pretends it had nothing to do with the chaos. Naturally, most owners cave and forgive them in a heartbeat.
That’s how it usually plays out. But some dogs are a bit more crafty, causing trouble so subtly that their humans don’t even realize anything’s wrong at first.
I speak from experience. And for one woman in Washington, what seemed like a mysteriously ‘broken’ dishwasher turned into quite the surprising discovery.
The Dishwasher Culprit Revealed
Hailey Adair had noticed her dishwasher behaving strangely for several days and assumed it might be time to call in a repair technician.
After several instances of odd behavior, she couldn’t figure out what was wrong. That is, until she happened to walk into the kitchen and caught the real culprit red-pawed.
Her dog, Darrel, had been secretly flipping the dishwasher’s magnetic dirty/clean sign without anyone noticing. He had been doing it for weeks.
Knowing Darrel’s cleverness, Hailey wasn’t totally shocked. After all, this smart pup had already mastered plenty of tricks—he could even play Connect 4 with her.
But that wasn’t all Darrel could do. He also loved a good game of carpet hockey, always running to Hailey for praise after scoring a goal.
He even dabbled in basketball, shooting hoops with a small net attached to the fridge. Darrel was an endlessly curious and playful pup who seemed to thrive on fun and games.
So, when you consider his history, it’s really not too surprising he’d mess with the dishwasher. Hailey had actually taught him how to use it—but only when she was supervising. Apparently, Darrel decided to take matters into his own paws when boredom struck.
Mystery Solved—For Now
Even though Hailey finally figured out what was going on, she found the situation so amusing that she posted Darrel’s reaction on TikTok.
As expected, the Washington pup quickly went viral, and viewers flooded the comments with their reactions.
One person joked: “When mom says you have to wait until she’s done with the dishes to go on a walk.”
Looks like Darrel had a motive after all—maybe he was just eager for his next outing. We may never know the full story.
Another commenter wrote: “What’s wrong with it is your dog very obviously obeying a command you taught him?”
That got me thinking—perhaps Darrel isn’t entirely to blame. Maybe he just didn’t get the memo about when it was okay to flip the sign. That seems like a fair defense.
And then someone chimed in with: “I’m his attorney…he’s been setup and my client and I can prove it.”
Honestly, I had my suspicions from the start. Maybe Darrel’s innocent after all.
All jokes aside, it’s truly heartwarming to see a pet owner who’s created such a playful, enriching bond with her dog. Hailey and Darrel make one of the most entertaining duos I’ve come across in a while.