The internet is full of harmful social media challenges, like the recent bark at your dog trend on TikTok. For your sake — and your dog’s — don’t join this fad. The idea behind it is to get close to your pup’s face and bark loudly as you record the interaction. You’ll find many canine reactions, from borderline dramatic to downright funny.
In most cases, the responses that caught your eye were a trauma response to extreme stress and fear. Read on to discover why you shouldn’t attempt creating such videos and why you shouldn’t bark at your dog in the first place. Once you participate in the TikTok challenge, there are many factors to consider. Check out the aspects of the trend.
To create your content, you should get your face as close as possible to your dog. While some pets are comfortable in such situations, it’s not always the case. It’s always best to let your furbabies decide how physically close they want to be to you. Apart from being dangerously close to your dog, the challenge also requires you to maintain unwavering eye contact. While this may seem like a harmless act to you, your dog may perceive it as a threat. Even if you’ve had your pet for a long time, staring is still not a good idea.
As the challenge name suggests, the last element is to bark at your dog’s face as you’re in close proximity. Combined with the space invasion and the eye contact, this act will likely elicit a negative response from your dog.
You see, when dogs bark, they can mean many things. Depending on the tone and body language, they are either telling you to stay away, comfort them, or play with them. When you suddenly bark at your dog without context, there’s a risk your pet might misinterpret your noise. Dogs also have distinct personality traits, and barking has different motivations. Some of them bark excessively when seeking attention or feeling anxious.
Like human words and sounds, there’s no universal bark for dogs. Each sound, movement, and situation can trigger different emotions. If you bark at your dogs, there’s a chance you unintentionally make them fear for their safety. So, when you intimidate dogs, you risk having them lunge, bite, snap, or bark back at you. Getting your five minutes of fame is not worth it.
Being the best mom or dad to your dogs requires ample research. Remember, no matter how much you love them and vice-versa, they cannot communicate with you as a human can. Next time you want to create any content that involves your dogs, research first.