Many people refer to their pets as their fur babies, so it isn’t unusual when a video goes viral of them being treated like children. And giving a dog a piggy back is probably nothing out of the ordinary for some owners.
Well, it certainly isn’t for Alfie’s “paw-rent”, who lets the golden retriever hop onto his back daily for a run around their home.
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Golden retriever males can weigh anything between 65 and 75 pounds, according to the American Kennel Club. The AKC says the breed loves to play and has very high energy levels. Golden retrievers are eager to please their owners and almost always need a job or activity to keep themselves stimulated.
In the viral TikTok clip shared by @hayleyspragg, Alfie knows exactly what time it is when his owner sits down on the side of the couch. The dog places his paws straight onto his owner’s shoulders. He then seemingly has the time of his life as he waltzes around the kitchen while wagging his tail.
The video is captioned: “Alfie[‘s] daily piggyback ride.” It has been paired with the hit song “Cotton Eyed Joe” by Rednex and has over 360,000 views and 37,000 likes.
In the comments, his owner Hayley explained how this became a regular thing: “One day he jumped on my husband’s back so he picked him up for a piggyback, and ever since then that’s how he expects to be greeted when we get home.”
Hayley also wrote how they trained Alfie: “He knows the word ‘up’ so we just tapped the back of our shoulder when we sat down and he picked [it up] pretty quickly. Now, we just say piggy.”
In February, the internet went wild over a video of the same breed speeding around in circles in a ball pit. However, it’s not all fun and games, especially if there is a cat around. This month, a golden retriever duo were caught on camera as they discovered who the real boss of their household is.
So far, the video has more than 245 comments, with one user writing: “My golden does this too and it’s so cute!!”
“I did not expect to like this video as much as I did! It’s the running around for me,” posted another.
Newsweek reached out to @hayleyspragg for comment via TikTok. We could not verify the details of the case.
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