A woman got the shock of her life after bringing home what she believed was a tiny chihuahua, only to realise she had adopted something completely different. Madison Austin explained how she adopted a puppy during the pandemic after researching "small apartment-friendly dogs", knowing the pup would be growing up in New York.

After spending hours looking into different breeds, she came across Henry online and quickly got in touch with the seller. She said: "They advertised him as a four-pound male chihuahua. But from the moment we got him, we thought, 'Hmm… his paws definitely look big.'"

Just weeks after welcoming him into her home, Madison realised the puppy was getting bigger and bigger each day.

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She added: "We still thought he was at least part chihuahua.

"I remember talking to my husband about whether or not his ears were eventually going to stand up."

But Henry soon went through a rapid growth spurt and quickly grew past what would be considered a "large chihuahua".

She said: "He started gaining two or three pounds a week, and then it went up to five pounds a week. Within two months, our vet had to say, 'Sorry to break it to you, but this dog is definitely not a chihuahua!'

"We had bought an expensive electronic pee pad, thinking we were going to train him on that. That didn’t work very well! And then, of course, we ended up spending a whole lot more money on dog food than we planned."

Thankfully, the couple eventually moved house and later welcomed two children.

Now, Henry tips the scales at around 95 pounds – and his breed has been revealed to be a Labrador retriever.

Madison added: "We thought we wanted a small pup because of our lifestyle, but we are so happy he ended up being so big.

"We have so much fun with him and he’s got a heart of gold. He was definitely meant to be ours.

"Sometimes we don’t even know what we need in our lives until it finds us. I have no doubt Henry was meant to be ours, and I can’t imagine life without him in our family."

Commenting on her Instagram page, where she shares updates about Henry, one user joked: "Girl, I mean this in the nicest way, but have you ever seen a chihuahua?"

Another added: "Little Henry wasn't even little. What were you thinking?"

A third user wrote: "Ma'am, I have bad news. I don't think that's a Labrador either… mix, sure, but pure? No."

One more user added: "Seems like someone could’ve handed you a raccoon and you would’ve thought it was a chihuahua. That dog didn’t ever look like one."

A final user commented: "Little Henry looks like every Lab-pit mix I've ever met."