The kids next door seem to have developed a new game for teasing my Boxer dog — they bark in its face while one of them takes a video of the dog’s reaction on their phone. It looks like they are sharing it on social media because they giggle a lot but I’m concerned it may not end well.
Should I:
(a) Tie the dog up;
(b) Tie the kids up; or
(c) Claim copyright over the videos?
Yours etc,
– Harriet
Dear Harriet,
All three to get things started — but I’ll come back to that later.
You may not know that, out there in Harston, you are on the cutting edge of a new global trend, inspired by a flurry of “barking at your dog” videos on TikTok.
TikTok has blossomed during the ‘Great Distraction’ — it’s a place where mainly young people post short video clips of dancing, singing, stunts and anything to get attention.
The Boss isn’t normally a TikTok-er but he tells me a bark-at-your-dog video posted by @adrianchateau had more than 32 milllion likes, which is quite a lot. And it’s not that funny.
Like most of these videos, the barking in your dog’s face seems designed to provoke a reaction that humans can laugh about. And some of these dogs look surprised, as you can imagine.
Others look distressed and don’t know what to do. They might lick their owner furiously, or bark back, or wag their tails slowly — which indicates uncertainty.
Robust face-licking is my initial choice for a pesky child. I find that a liberal splash of sticky saliva from my grotesquely enormous tongue usually deters any more close encounters.
But that’s for the kiddies I know. It’s a different thing from a stranger or a human who gets your hackles up merely by breathing — I can sense the people who don’t like dogs and don’t like me in particular.
That’s when you need to take your cue from the dog — hints like bared teeth and hairs standing up on the dog’s neck are red flashing lights.
The Boss says the experts agree and are unanimous that barking in your dog’s face is a bad idea. Surprising the dog might be funny for the humans but it clearly isn’t funny for the dog. At worst, a dog can react reflexively and bite — which then means the dog can get branded as aggressive.
Ryan Neile, head of behaviour services at UK pet charity Blue Cross, said, "Unlike people, dogs will never understand prank culture, jump scares or practical jokes. We abuse their trust in us when we treat our pets in this way.”
"A very real and possible consequence of getting a cheap laugh and likes on social media is that you get hurt, and your dog might end up losing their home or even their life."
– The General. Woof!
The General is The Boss’s dog. For more yarns, visit sheppnews.com.au/thegeneral
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