In a viral TikTok video, a new dog dad tries to approach his puppies while they chill in the kennel with their mom, and her reaction has the internet in stitches.
The hilarious clip shared in August under the username @caitlin_gregg, shows the yellow Labrador retriever attempting to approach his lookalike puppies when their mom immediately warns him to back off.
As he gets closer to sniff the puppies, the dog mom immediately lunges at him, barking as if telling him to leave them alone.
“Dad attempts to visit with his puppies again!” reads layover text in the clip. “Not today, fool!”
The caption says: “Dad thought he could sneak in a few puppy sniffs! Poor guy, rejected again.”
The dog mom in the video doesn’t seem to like to idea of her puppies meeting their dad, but can male dogs actually make good fathers?
According to the American Kennel Club (AKC), the answer is not really, at least not in a traditional sense. The website explains that unlike their wolf ancestors, who help raise and protect their pups within a pack, male dogs lack paternal instincts.
That’s because, over generations, humans have assumed most parenting duties toward dogs and puppies, reducing the male dog’s role.
While some male dogs may be gentle or playful with puppies, this behavior is often due to social conditioning, and not instinct. In fact, their presence can stress the mother, distract her from caring for the litter, and pose a danger to the newborns.
They recommend keeping the father away until the pups are at least four to six weeks old. Once they reach this age, male dogs can help with socializing the puppies and teaching basic pack behavior.
The video quickly went viral on TikTok and it has so far received over 1.4 million views and 109,300 likes on the platform.
One user, Bree, commented: “She said ‘wake these damn kids up and see what happens.'”
Nobody said: “Why do the mothers get so protective over the dads coming over but not humans?”
Jennifer added: “Like… she just put them all down for a nap and now he wanna bother, of course.”
Newsweek reached out to @caitlin_gregg for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.
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