A video of a dog taking possessiveness to whole new level has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip was shared by @harryandremi and has had over 149,000 views since it was posted four days ago.
A message overlaid on the clip says: “When you’re tired but can’t let anybody else steal your ball.” The footage shows a dog holding a tennis ball in his mouth while sleeping on a blanket placed over a crate. Another dog is also shown snoozing just behind him.
A caption shared with the post says: “He loves tennis balls so much.”
The dog’s obsession over the ball is understandable because some canines can be aggressively protective of their favorite objects.
In an article for VCA, one of North America’s largest animal hospital chains, veterinarians Debra Horwitz and Gary Landsberg noted: “Possessive aggression is aggression that is directed toward humans or other pets that approach the dog when it is in possession of something that is highly desirable, such as a favorite chew toy, food, or treat.
“Novel and highly desirable objects, such as a tissue that has been stolen from a garbage can, a favorite toy, human food, or a piece of rawhide are some of the items that dogs may aggressively protect,” the veterinarians said.
A November 2012 study in Animal Cognition said: “Domestic dogs are reported to show intense but transient neophilia towards novel objects.”
The study, conducted among Labrador retrievers, found that “loss of interest in the object during object-orientated play in this species is due to habituation to the overall stimulus properties of the toy rather than to any single sensory modality…”
‘Next Level’
Users on TikTok were amused by the dog’s behavior in the latest post.
User susiexxsue said: “That is sooo adorable.”
WHIPPET_OTTO said: “this is just next level friend.”
RaFi noted: “Another level of possession.”
User pameladaly150 wrote: “it’s comfortable knowing he has it.”
Debora Byrd said: “I bet he will feel the tug of someone trying to take it and grip down on the ball in his sleep with a side eye. Love it.”
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. This video has not been independently verified.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to [email protected] with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.