A toddler has been caught snuggling up to his ‘best friend’ Brutus the boxer at night instead of staying in his adult bed.
In adorable footage 23-month-old Finn Knudston grabs his sheets and teddy bear before clambering into Brutus’ basket and curling up next to the dog’s rump.
Mother-of-four Paige set up the camera at home in Richmond, Virginia, to discover how her son ends up sharing a bed with the four-year-old dog every night.
She said the pair have been inseparable from the day her son came home. Finn was born with a heart defect and needed an emergency operation to save his life.
Finn Knudston and Brutus the boxer are inseparable. Pictured at home in Richmond, Virginia
Mother-of-four Paige set up the night camera to discover how they end up sharing a bed
In the video, the toddler appears to have waited for all the lights to go out before making the secretive trip to his best friend’s basket.
After climbing in Finn lies across the dog’s rump several times, trying to get comfy, before also trying to sit on its back.
Brutus barely moves while the bed-mate fidgets, and appears to remain fast asleep.
Mother Paige said: ‘Finn just started sleeping in his big boy bed a little over a month ago which is when Brutus began crawling up and sleeping in bed every night; it was as if he laid next to him to prevent him from rolling out of bed.
‘Finn then began climbing out of his bed and sleeping on his floor, so naturally Brutus began sleeping next to him there as well.
‘The dog bed came into play recently so we now have one downstairs and one upstairs, which eventually made it into Finn’s room and the rest was history.’
Finn and Brutus pictured snoozing together in the family home
Mother Paige said the dog and her son are ‘best friends’ and that there is now a basket for Brutus inside Finn’s room
Paige added that she felt the dog had started sleeping next to Finn because it felt he needed extra protection.
‘When I was 20 weeks pregnant with Finn, the anatomy scan showed that he had a cyanotic heart defect called transposition of the great arteries.
‘We were extremely lucky to have found this out prior to his birth, or he would not be here with us today.
‘Finn underwent multiple procedures immediately after his birth in order to keep him alive until he could have his open heart surgery.
‘Finn had his arterial switch at 11 days old and did great and after seven weeks, a few unexpected complications, and an additional surgery, Finn was finally discharged home.
‘Once we got home it was as if Brutus just knew Finn needed some extra close monitoring, and he has been by his side ever since.’
Finn and Brutus the boxer snoozing together. Paige said she thinks the dog decided her son needed extra protection
The pair snuggled up together in bed. Finn had a heart operation after he was born
Paige had been taking pictures of the pair of them curled up in the new dog bed ever since they received it and her and husband Nate, a 38-year-old car shop worker, were intrigued as to what was happening before and after.
Paige said: ‘I actually watched the footage in real time from my phone in the next room, there was no watching the footage back or rewinding it. I was right on the other side of the door listening the whole time.
‘I synced the camera with my phone so I could control when it recorded and when it just monitored.
‘Immediately prior to me hitting record from my phone, I tucked Finn back in bed again because I saw him on the camera climbing on the edge of his chair and I didn’t want him to fall.
‘I went back to my phone and hit record because I saw him untuck himself and I didn’t want to miss it if he was going to get out of bed again to go lay with Brutus, which is exactly what he did.
‘I was not concerned Brutus would get annoyed because he has tolerated and behaved so incredibly well in other situations, so Finn rolling and climbing around him was something I knew he would not be fazed by.
The pair are pictured above snuggled together on a bed inside the family home
‘Brutus insists on being in Finn’s room and he’s not the kind of dog to do something he doesn’t want to do, no one is forcing him to be in that situation.
‘He has never shown any signs of aggression toward humans or else he wouldn’t be trusted around Finn or any of our other children.’
The adorable video was taken on July 3.