Doodle Siblings' Game Of Tug-Of-War Is Unlike Any You've Seen Before
Often, the way dogs play together appears chaotically noisy and energetic. But, occasionally, dogs can play in a manner that seems quiet, refined, and maybe even a bit weird. In an amusing TikTok video that's been viewed more than 1.1 million times and liked over 225,000 times, two types of doodle dogs — a golden doodle and a Bernedoodle — have the two ends of a sock grasped in their mouths. They stand, unmoving, unblinking. Written on the video are the words "idk whats wrong with my dogs but they like playing tug of war without tugging."
@sociallykels I think they are having fun... #funnydogs #dogsiblings #doodles #goldendoodle #bernedoodle
Viewers were tickled by the stationary silliness of the cute canine duo. "It's their official staring contest sock," one person suggested, while another commented, "My good sir would you like to engage in a game of hold of peace." Several viewers noted the Canadian flag on the dogs' owners' profile and wondered if that might shed some light on the animals' polite behavior. "The Canadian flag explains everything. They are too polite to tug," one wrote. Another stated, "The most Canadian dogs I've ever seen."
The precious pair of pooches have played a similar game of unmoving tug-of-war multiple times using items such as a stuffed lamb toy, a ball, and a Christmas toy. One viewer dubbed the dogs' favorite game "Tug of war (no war or tug edition)."
Why do dogs love tug-of-war so much?
Like all play behavior in dogs, tug-of-war is a trust-building exercise, helping to strengthen the feeling of trust between the two dogs (or the dog and the human) playing together. When a dog tugs on something with its mouth, it is acting out part of its hardwired prey-drive instinct: hunt, stalk, chase, grab, shake, pull, eat. All dogs have this prey-drive instinct — not just hunting dogs — but domestic dogs don't tend to complete the full sequence of actions while playing because they don't actually kill and consume any prey.
What makes the behavior of the two doodle dogs in the TikTok video so strange and funny is that neither dog ever attempts to pull during tug-of-war, so the game fails completely at mimicking any of the prey-drive sequence. One viewer commented, "Both dogs playing a game because they thought the other one wanted to." Another added, "Think that's just shared custody of the sock at this point 😭."
Want to see more cute dogs having their own version of fun? Check out this Australian shepherd playing on a slide with her toddler sibling, and these dogs who brought back bizarre things while playing fetch.