You can usually tell when a dog is thinking. There is a pause, and then a decision nobody asked them to make.
In this video, a giant minion turns up in the house and the dogs have to decide what to do about it. What follows is a careful investigation, which is a polite way of saying a slow approach, a long sideways look, and a retreat to a safe distance before curiosity wins the argument and they come back for another sniff.
What I like about this one is how honest the dogs are about being unsure. Nobody in this clip is pretending to be brave. Maymo’s human has been filming these setups for years, and the reason they still land is simple: he lets the dogs be dogs. The minion just stands there and does nothing, which is somehow the funniest option available.
It also reminds me that dogs live in a world where the furniture can suddenly grow a face. Their patience with us is impressive.
That stiff-legged freeze has a name. We wrote about the dog startle response and why a sudden change in the room can rattle a dog who was perfectly fine five seconds earlier. If you want to read what the dogs are doing with their bodies here, the loose and wiggly signals in the awkward play pose are a good place to start.
Credit where it belongs: this video is by Maymo, and yes, that is his channel name too. Most of the cast are his own dogs, including Maymo, a lemon beagle, and his brother Potpie. Somebody has to keep an eye on that minion. The dogs seem up for the job.