Coton De Tulear Always Gets Up For His Nightly Walk After Hearing His Special Song
Whether opting for a late-night snack or getting carried to bed every night like a true king, humans and dogs alike can have quite particular night routines. Some bedtime rituals even involve music. It's true, and an amazing TikTok has revealed just how special one song can be for a very sleepy Coton de Tulear pup named Fonzie (aka Fonz). We just can't handle how sweet it is!
@kristinandfonz We are a one trick pony over here and the trick is singing for our dogs last walk of the night #dog #dogsoftiktok #LWOTN
Over two million people have now learned a quite powerful song. Well, powerful if your name is Fonzie. In the short clip, you'll find the Fonz lying beside his dog dad on what seems to be a pretty comfortable couch. That is, until his dog mom begins to sing a song with very specific lyrics. The song goes, "Last walk of the night. Last walk of the night. Who's going on a walk? It's the Fonz!" The moment she begins to sing, Fonzie rises up as if hearing a siren song.
As she continues to sing, he marches all the way down the stairs and to the back door, ready for his final walk of the night. One viewer joked that this little ritual has to be quite the story to tell Fonzie's dog sitter. Another elaborated, saying, "Yeah, so you have to sing him a song before he goes outside every night." Nighttime music for Fonzie is a requirement!
Is Fonzie's night time tune actually a siren song?
Fonzie's quite literally moved by his dog mom's tune. Research shows that animals like music and can be affected by it. In fact, one sound behaviorist, Janet Marlow, even coined the term species-specific music based on her two decades of studies on relaxing music for cats and dogs through her behavior research at Pet Acoustics. However, Fonzie's response to this particular ditty likely has more to do with ritual than music.
The TikToker wrote in the video that they were "continuing to Pavlov our dog to go on his last walk before bed," and they're on to something. Pavlovian conditioning, also known as classical conditioning, is when someone is trained to have a specific response to something, like scientist Ivan Pavlov's dog drooling at the sound of a bell after learning to associate it with food.
Fonzie's likely Pavlovian response is a good sign. The science of pets and sleep shows us that regular routines — both nightly and in general — are great for promoting positive behaviors in our pets, like healthy sleep. Plus, routines can build confidence in your dog, which can lower anxiety. So, in a way, the Fonz's nighttime tune really is a sort of siren song after all, just not in the way you might think!