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A video of a golden retriever caught stealing a ball from her sister while the owner is away has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip was posted from the TikTok account Golden Retriever Life (@elliegoldenlife), which features videos about golden retriever sisters Ellie and Emma. The footage has received more than 910,000 views.
A message overlaid on the video reads: "I set up a camera to see what my dogs do when I'm gone." The footage shows one golden retriever appearing to be asleep, sprawled on a dog bed in a room. The canine's sister is seen hovering around the area before later grabbing a ball toy next to the pup on the bed.
It's no surprise that the pup in the latest viral clip stole the toy while her sister was sleeping. She may have acted the same even in the presence of "watching eyes," according to a January 2020 study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports. It found that people are less "likely to carry out risky behavior in general" when they feel they're being watched. However, "dogs, despite being highly sensitive to human eyes, do not show the watching-eye effect," the study added.
The golden retriever's urge to steal the ball toy may have also been influenced by a novelty factor, according to a November 2012 study conducted with Labrador retrievers. In the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Animal Cognition, domestic dogs were reported to show "intense but transient neophilia [a strong desire for new things] towards novel objects."
In an article for VCA, one of North America's largest animal-hospital chains, veterinarians Debra Horwitz and Gary Landsberg wrote: "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 golden retriever in the latest viral clip is seen hovering around her sleeping sister, eyeing a ball that appears to be nestled on the side of her sibling on the bed. She slowly stretches her paw toward the ball and slips the toy away from her sibling's side. The other dog seems briefly startled by the act, wriggling around and stretching her paws upward before turning around as the clip ends. A caption shared with the post simply reads: "Siblings."
Kevin Bubolz, the owner of Ellie and Emma, has served in the military. His wife, Katie, trained Ellie as a therapy dog after Kevin witnessed "first-hand the benefit of animal-assisted interactions while deployed overseas," according to the couple's website. The pair have spent many years "volunteering in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes advancing the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of others," the website said. Emma joined their family in 2022.
The golden retriever's crafty move in the latest viral clip has left TikTok users in stitches. User krakrak wrote, "Sneaky," while CellyOnTheGo posted, "Cheeky little sister."
User iza commented that it was the "perfect ball heist!" while nusratahmed448 wrote, "yay mission accomplished."
User oz_oz_ozzie posted: "Hahah must get ball without waking them up."
User @mr.ice263 added: "The dogs face tho when she woke up..."
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok and email. This video has not been independently verified.
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About the writer
Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in Read more