When my girlfriend returned from walking our dog, I spotted a strange shape tangled in his fur. It was curved, damp and seemed to move whenever he shifted. We crouched beside him, trying to work out what we were seeing, while he happily wagged his tail.

The longer we stared, the worse our guesses became. Was it a tick? Some unfamiliar insect? I was already imagining an emergency vet visit when my girlfriend leaned closer under the kitchen light. Something about those tiny, perfectly spaced “legs” caught her attention.

They weren’t legs. Stuck to our dog’s scruffy coat was a strip of false eyelashes, soggy and bent from its unexpected journey home. For a moment, neither of us spoke. Then we started laughing so hard that the dog wagged even faster.

We gently removed his accidental beauty accessory, and he wandered off for a nap. Minutes earlier, we had been preparing for disaster. Now our biggest unanswered question was how he had managed to come home from a walk wearing better lashes than either of us.