A golden retriever managed to implicate himself in the most hilarious way possible after his owners discovered the house had been trashed.
In a September 1 video watched over 3.2 million times and posted under the handle @maui_thegoldenpup on TikTok, a dog owner shows the trail of destruction in the downstairs area of their home. Trash lies strewn across the floor along with torn-up pieces of paper. It has all the hallmarks of having been done by a dog. The problem is, they have two canines in the house.
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Trying to deduce which of their four-legged friends is responsible for the crime might have been a difficult task. However, their golden retriever Maui made it easy by looking about as guilty as any pet could ever possibly look.
In the clip, Maui can be seen walking around his owners with his head and body low to the ground in what his owners describe as a “guilt crawl.” He also appears to be squinting for reasons that are not entirely clear. One thing is certain though: if he was trying to play it cool, it didn’t work. Their corgi, by contrast, appears happy and carefree in the video.
Whether Maui’s behavior is a reflection of his guilt, however, is a matter of debate. In 2009, a study published in the journal Behavioral Processes sought to unpick the idea.
Researchers conducted an experiment involving a group of canines and their owners. In a test area, a dog owner ordered their pet not to eat an item of food left there. They then left the room.
At this point, the food item was either consumed by the dogs or removed by a researcher. The owner then returned and either scolded the dogs or greeted them in a friendly way, regardless of whether the food had been eaten or not.
Researchers found that the dogs tested exhibited more guilty-look behaviors when being scolded than they did when being spoken to in a friendly manner. This appears to indicate that much of the guilty behavior seen in dogs is a result of their owner’s influence rather than anything else.
It is difficult to know what inspired Maui’s guilt crawl in this particular clip, but his antics certainly had plenty of people amused on social media.
“I love the corgi’s confidence and the golden retriever’s obviousness,” one viewer wrote, with another commenting: “Omg [oh my god] the army crawl is the confession right there.”
A third user posted, “I seriously don’t know how you guys can resist the cuteness,” with a fourth adding: “Every Golden’s squint like this when they are guilty.”
Newsweek has contacted maui_thegoldenpup via TikTok for comment.
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