I’m not sure if this counts as a vid I love, but it’s getting a lot of attention around the web.
I will say that I know a lot of women who would probably like a dog like the one in this viral video to take around town. It’s a common complaint among pregnant women that once they start to be visible, their bodies start to be considered public property. All of a sudden, complete or near-strangers are asking if they can touch your belly. In some cases, I’m told, people don’t even bother to ask.
So, I’m thinking that there’s a sizable number of prospective mothers who would love to have a dog like the one below to take around the neighborhood on a leash. They might say, “I’d really love to let you feel up my baby bump, but my dog might take your hand off. Sorry.”
To summarize, the video shows a very pregnant woman and her husband standing in the kitchen with their dog. As he repeatedly tries to reach out and touch her belly, the dog reacts with extreme hostility, growling and barking until the man pulls back. From behind the camera, someone laughs and says, “Baby’s got his own protector.”
The video started to go viral when it was reposted on Break.com, a humor video site aimed at 18- to 35-year-old men. Since then, it has been pulled down, probably because of the objections of the original video maker. Before that, however, Opposing Views reports that it had been watched nearly 972,000 in less than 24 hours.
While the video was burning up the web, most of the commenters seemed to find it adorable and funny. Opposing Views called it “sidesplitting” while other sites called it “hilarious” or “sweet.”
I hate to be a killjoy, but I don’t find it to be any of the above. It’s very disturbing to see a dog react in such an extreme manner to a human being who he should know making such an innocuous gesture. The barks and growls aren’t casual or playful; the dog sounds like he’s enraged and ready to attack, and that makes me wonder what’s really going on in that scene.
If the video is truly unstaged, the dog’s extreme response implies some potentially ugly history. Combing my brain, I can come up with a few possibilities: The dog could be poorly trained and overly agressive, which makes him a danger to the people around him. He might have a history of abuse, either in this household or a previous one. Finally, the husband might have a history of abusing the wife, in which case there would be a real need for the dog to protect her. I can’t think of any options that make the video cute or funny.
What do you think? What’s really going on in that video? Tell us below.
Via Opposing Views and YouTube.
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