A tiny puppy with a big voice is casting a spell over social media after a video was shared online of her enjoying a conversation with one of her human carers.
In a video posted to TikTok under the handle barrelracer96, the young dog can be seen chatting away with a bearded man who appears only too happy to engage with her. “My dad’s litter of pups are very feisty this time around!” the accompanying caption reads. “She is the most talkative and cutest!!”
The footage was filmed by Norma Scott from Indiana, the wife of the man featured in the video. The puppy is Willow and she is part of a litter of Australian cattle dogs or blue heelers bred by Scott’s father.
barrelracer96
“We try to find loving homes that know the breed because they are not for everyone due to their herding instincts and drive,” Scott told Newsweek. “A lot of our pups go to farms and get to have amazing jobs working cattle and other livestock, but some of them end up in homes that have the time to exercise them and make sure they get that stimulation they need.”
Scott said they don’t tend to name the puppies as they like to leave it to their new owners to pick them. However, they made an exception with Willow. “We usually don’t name the puppies unless they have a distinctive personality trait or we have a name that suits them,” she said. “My husband has decided he really likes her and has named her Willow.”
Scott’s husband certainly appears to have developed a special bond with Willow and seems happy to listen as the young pup pours her heart out to him. Much of that seemingly instantaneous bond they share will have come through the simple act of conversing.
The benefits of speech interaction between adult dogs and humans was previously highlighted in a study published in the scientific journal Animal Cognition which highlighted how using dog-directed speech helped improve canine attention.
To test the theory, researchers conducted a series of speech tests with dogs in which they first listened to someone using dog-directed speech featuring phrases like “you’re a good dog,” before then listening to another person using adult-directed speech like “I went to the cinema last night.”
During this, researchers measured the canines’ attention levels and, following the two interactions, the canines were allowed to choose which speaker they wished to interact with.
To further test the theory, they had the speakers then mix up dog-directed speech with adult-directed words and vice-versa in order to assess whether it was the words themselves or the tone of the speech that the dogs were drawn to.
Interestingly, they found the dogs were more likely to interact and spend time with the speaker that used dog-directed speech and dog-directed content.
In this particular instance, Scott’s partner chose to speak to Willow because of the fact she responded to him “My husband really likes animals and will talk to most of them but this one decided to actually talk back, along with a couple of her siblings,” she said.
Willow’s chatty ways have already won her plenty of fans online with a clip uploaded to TikTok accumulating over 3.5 million views and counting. “She is very sassy for a 3 week old,” the onscreen caption read. Many commenting on the clip were inclined to agree.
“She’s telling her little life story,” one wrote, with another commenting: “She has a lot to say.” A third reckoned: “she knows everything already,” with a fourth describing it as “an adorable moment between Dad and baby.”
Scott would encourage other dog lovers out there to take the time to talk to their four-legged friends. “We definitely talk to our dogs in our home and I don’t know how someone could resist talking to them,” she said. “Sometimes they have a lot to say.”
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.