It’s safe to say this man wasn’t greeted warmly by his family dog, who was more interested in biting him than receiving a cuddle.
A clip shared by Samantha Snyder (@samsnyds) on September 26 has been a massive hit online, garnering 7.2 million views and 1.1 million likes on TikTok.
The text overlaid on the video reads, “When my 27-year-old, 190lb brother is scared to pick up our 15lb dog that we’ve had since he was 12.”
The man, who lives in Florida, is described as “so brave” in the caption and flips off the dog after deciding to abort the mission.
Snyder has since shared another video addressing negative comments they received, such as blaming the dog’s breeder or suggesting the dog has post-traumatic stress disorder. In the follow-up clip, the dog again refuses to be picked up by the man but allows Snyder to do so. The canine even lets Snyder plant a kiss on her forehead, something that doesn’t seem remotely possible for the brother.
TikTok/@samsnyds
The clip, captioned, “It’s actually just brother/sister beef y’all wouldnt get it,” has received 240,000 likes in three days.
The original video has nearly 1,800 comments, with one comment receiving over 147,000 likes. The comment reads: “Having beef with a family dog like they’re a sibling is so real.”
Another user commented, “This is such a Shih Tzu thing,” while a third wrote, “Dog said ‘still got it.'”
A fourth user wrote, “The dog is messing with him because it knows he’s scared.”
Research has shown that dogs can indeed sense human emotions. A 2017 study titled Interspecies Transmission of Emotional Information via Chemosignals: From Humans to Dogs explored whether dogs can detect human emotions like happiness and fear through body odors like sweat.
Researchers collected sweat samples from men who were either happy or scared and exposed pet dogs (Labradors and Golden Retrievers) to these smells. The dogs were then allowed to interact freely with their owners, a stranger, and a sweat dispenser.
The study found that dogs behaved differently depending on the scent. When exposed to happy scents, dogs spent more time interacting with the stranger and less with their owner. In the fear condition, dogs displayed more stress behaviors and had higher heart rates.
These findings suggest that dogs can pick up on human emotions through scent, showcasing a form of emotional communication between species.
Newsweek reached out to @samsnyds for comment.
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