Boxer's Reaction to Santa at Home Delights Internet: 'Not a Guard Dog'

A video of a dog appearing to be scared of a man dressed as Santa Claus has gone viral on TikTok, where it has received 1.7 million views.

A message overlaid on the clip, shared by TikTok user bedslp (@user7053758665609), read: "My dad dressed up like Santa for a local school and then went to pick up my dog."

The video showed a boxer-breed dog staring down from the top of some stairs and backing away slowly as the camera drew nearer. After pausing to look toward the camera again, the dog jumped over a couch and stood behind a coffee table in the living room as the camera got closer.

The boxer later approached the camera slowly as a voice in the video appeared to call its name and said: "It's me, hi, it's me."

A caption shared with the post said: "Safe to say she's not a guard dog. #boxersoftiktok #boxerdog ##christmas

An August 2020 study of 13,700 Finnish dogs published in the journal Scientific Reports said that fear in dogs can be classified into two categories—asocial and nonsocial fear—based on the stimuli that cause fear.

"Social fear includes fear of other dogs or unfamiliar people, whereas non-social fear includes fear of different objects, loud noises and novel situations," according to the study.

Signs of fear in dogs can differ depending on the stimuli causing the fear, the study said. For example, "dogs that are afraid of strangers usually avoid or withdraw, bark, or have a low tail position."

The study also said that "fearfulness is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Canine fearfulness is highly heritable and studies have already identified some candidate loci and genes that affect fearfulness.

"Environmental factors discovered by previous studies include socialization, training and daily exercise, owner's previous dog experience, and company of conspecifics among other things," the study said.

The dog's reaction to Santa in the TikTok video left some users in stitches.

In a comment that got 22,600 likes, Jen Hiltibidal said: "She didn't even bark [crying, laughing emojis]."

Amberly wrote: "That's such a polite dog, not a single bark lmao [laughing my a** off]," and the original poster replied: "She's the sweetest."

User savannahbennett wrote: "She really said stranger danger," to which the original poster replied: "She really did [crying, laughing emoji]."

Beth Meholick Lanzon wrote: "Hope that's not your guard dog... [crying, laughing emoji]," to which the original poster replied: "She has definitely been demoted [crying, laughing emoji]."

The video has not been independently verified. Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment.

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