Dachshund reunites with toy, breaks 1M YouTube views in a week

It's simple story about finding a lost love again, but it has captured the hearts of people on more than one continent.

As a puppy, Finn, a P.E.I. dachshund, loved a spotted pig squeaky toy. But as dogs will, Finn loved it to pieces.

His owners, Kyle and Kristie Simpson, say Finn never loved another toy like that pig. Five years passed.

"We came across another one and we thought, let's just try it," said Kristie Simpson.

"We were completely shocked by the reaction that he had: How excited he was and how much he cared for it."

1M views

They filmed his joyous reaction and posted it on YouTube late last Sunday night.

The reaction was immediate with over one million views in the first week.

"It did pretty good on its own I think we got 150,000 on our own and then it sort of started to slow down," said Simpson.

International reaction

Then, it caught the attention of Defy Media, who licensed it. With that company's help it has been featured on Mashable, Daily News UK, Country Living Magazine,Woman's Day, and People.

"We had one company contact us and basically ask if they could have permission to licence it and push it out to their outlets, so I think that's probably the main way that it's gotten out there."

The Simpson's don't know exactly how much the licensing is worth yet with each view earning them "fractions of a penny," according to Kyle.

Finn's second hit

This is not Finn's first YouTube hit. A video of him playing red light/green light from four years ago has 1.3 million views.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |This is a drill: P.E.I. police forces practise armed response
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |'A glimpse of what life was like': Man shares 50-year-old film of P.E.I. road trip