A Labrador has been filmed sounding the alarm after spotting her owner lying face down in the water. In a video posted to TikTok by Kendra Nesbitt, the dog can be seen barking from the steps of a cabin while her dad floats in the unusual position.
Despite the canine being quick to try to alert others to the situation, it turned out her concerns were unwarranted—that's just the way her dad, who is deaf, likes to swim. "When your dog gets stressed when your fam goes into the water but this is how your dad swims unintentionally," an onscreen caption reads.
Elaborating further, Nesbitt wrote alongside the post: "He's not antagonizing her, he's just deaf...and likes to float like this." The bizarre clip has already been watched more than 600,000 times on TikTok.
While her owner may have been fine, the Labrador's reaction and evident desire to help could be interpreted as an example of a canine showing empathy towards their human companion.
Previous studies have indicated that dogs may be capable of feeling empathy towards a human. In 2008, a research paper published in the journal Biology Letters explored the idea of contagious yawning—the notion that one person yawning causes others to do the same—in relation to humans and dogs.
To test the theory, 29 dogs were observed watching a nearby human yawn. What researchers found was that the dogs started yawning in response. The study concluded this "may indicate that dogs possess the capacity for a rudimentary form of empathy."
Nesbitt's dog certainly appeared to be showing concern in the video. As the clip shows, the man appears largely motionless in the clip, something that may have been at odds with what the Lab had previously seen when people entered the water.
In any case, most viewers felt some sympathy for the dog and were not especially surprised at her reaction to the sight of the floating man. "Poor dog, why he float like that?" one TikToker asked, with another commenting: "aww she just worried dog."
"Does the dog not like to swim?" one viewer asked. "She LOVES to swim but she'll try to save us if she goes in with us," Nesbitt replied. Though the man's approach may have appeared strange to the Labrador and many online, there were a few who claimed they had witnessed similar.
"My dad can only float like this," one wrote. "Okay so dad isn't the only dad that swims like this," another relieved fan added.
A third went further, explaining: "MY FATHER DOES THE SAME THING he asks me to count how long he can stay without breathing, I'm always anxious because he looks like he's dead one minute in."
Nesbitt replied: "I didn't realize this was such a common experience."
Newsweek contacted Nesbitt on Wednesday via email for comment.
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Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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