There is an endless supply of adorable dog videos on social media, many of which were recently trending. Noodle the horoscope-providing Pug and Morty the wobbly rescue dog are just two famous dogs from TikTok.
A recent video trend of dogs and their owners on Tiktok has become popular, but it’s not as cute. It might seem silly and innocent at first—until professionals warn about how dangerous this can be to your pup.
These videos of people lip-syncing to a silly audio clip while getting in their dog’s faces are really starting to get out of hand. It seems harmless enough, but this could freak any pup or even an experienced canine and they may bite.
The TikTok trend of talking smack is often posted with the hashtag #TalkingSmack. These videos show a person getting in someone else’s face while mouthing words from an audio clip that seems silly or inappropriate. The voice you hear in this audio clip is from someone who took taekwondo lessons at the back of Walmart. While it might be amusing with two humans, most people are pretending to yell at their dogs instead.
The majority of the dogs in the videos are uncomfortable. Some of the dogs show signs of stress, such as avoiding eye contact or snarling. Their humans appear to think it’s hilarious but professionals think otherwise.
Cat the Vet is on a mission to stop people from harming their pets with these types of trends. She created her own TikTok video that explains why it’s so harmful and what dogs will do if you keep doing talking smack to dogs. If you keep doing it, your dog will lash out and bite someone. It’s a disaster waiting to happen, and sadly the dogs will likely be blamed for it.
Joe Nutkins, a dog trainer and behaviorist said, “We can often tell if a dog really isn’t comfortable about something just because they just don’t ‘look comfortable’ generally speaking but they can also give quite clear warning signs too. To watch some of the videos was actually quite disturbing really. The majority, if not all, of the videos that I have seen show dogs turning their head a little bit to one side. It might literally just be turning a couple of centimeters slightly to one side away from the owner. Then they actually do what’s called ‘whale eye’ which is where the dog turns their head a little bit and then they actually turn their eyes the other way as far as they can. The idea is they show the whites of their eyes as much as possible, trying to indicate that they are not liking the situation.”
@cat_the_vet PLEASE stop posting videos like this! Do you want to be responsible for a maimed child?! #notsafe #doNOTtrythisathome #catthevet ♬ original sound – Cat The Vet
We all love watching cute dog videos but before posting something online make sure you think about your pup’s feelings and behaviors. Even the best-behaved dogs can get scared and irritated, so it is better to be safe than sorry.
@sarseydyerJust letting you know. ##taekwondo ##dogsoftikok ##yeah ##humor ##pitbullsoftiktok ##talkingsmack♬ original sound – Christian McCartney
If you know someone who might like this, please click “Share”!