My Dog Went Viral for His Fish Obsession
We’ve always known Teddy was a one-of-a-kind dog, but I guess we’d become habituated to the uniqueness of his fishing habit. When I made a compilation of his fish obsession on TikTok, I thought I was posting just another silly dog video that few others would see, more for my own entertainment than anything else. Ten and a half million views later, Teddy, the fish-loving dog, is officially “internet famous.”
The video begins with a clip of Ted unassumingly lying on the couch, looking at the camera, and the text says “Humane Society: Are you sure you want him? He’s weirdly obsessed with fish.” The Tune of “Gary’s Song” plays lightly in the background and the lyrics start, “More than a pet he’s my best friend…” At that point, the video cuts to a clip of Teddy dancing in excitement while we hold a trout near him. Subsequent clips are of him looking longingly into an aquarium, squealing happily when I show him (an unfortunately dead) baby fish that I found, and multiple of him “fishing,” where he walks back and forth in the water, looking down in deep focus, as if he’s going to catch a fish at his feet.
For copyright reasons, I can’t upload it here with sound. Here’s a link to the original Tiktok:
People had a lot of questions and funny, kind and creative comments. Here are responses to some of the most common questions/comments I received, followed by a bit more about the “experience” of going viral:
What breed is he? This was by far the most common question. At the time I posted the video, we didn’t know, but we promised we’d get a DNA test and share the results. We strongly suspected a herding breed, like border collie, because of his intelligence, drive, intense biddability and his… neurotic anxiety. Tiktok had many breed speculations. The most common was Shiba Inu. Teddy’s results came back and it turns out he’s a super mutt with small percentages of 19 different breeds, but his top were husky, pitbull and chihuahua.
He’s just like me. This exact comment, hundreds of times. So many people relate to the fish addiction.
“Special Interests”/Autism. Many people pointed out that fish are Ted’s “special” interest, and asked if dogs can have autism. I looked it up and yes, more or less, dogs can be autistic. People said “Sorry to break it to you, ma’am, your dog is autistic,” and “I believe your dog has a touch of the ‘tism.” But by far my favorite comment in this category simply said “dog-tism.”
He needs a pet fish/You should get an aquarium. A lot of people said that Ted needs his own pet fish. I’m not planning on doing this for a few reasons. A, we don’t have much space in our apartment, I don’t want to spend the money on it, and we travel a lot, so I don’t really want the responsibility of maintaining a tank. B, he’s not really that interested in fish in a tank and loses interest quickly. He’s more into the act of fishing, finding something in the water, if that makes any sense. I did order one of those fake aquariums, with the plastic floating fish, out of curiosity. Ted seemed concerned and “booped” it a few times (but I suspect this was probably just because it’s a new electronic… I haven’t yet mentioned that Ted hates electronics and appliances) then lost interest.
Why is he obsessed with fish? Honestly, we don’t understand the motives behind his fish obsession. He doesn’t try to hurt or eat them, he just gets excited and squeals at them… lol. My fiancé, Cole, was a fly fishing guide, and Ted grew up going fishing with him. Cole and I are both still very into fly fishing, we go almost every weekend, and the dogs usually join. It’s possible Ted just learned to love fish from our excitement about fishing, but I think there’s also an inherent, “nature” component. I always wondered if he was trying to “herd” the fish. Cole says Ted first started acting fish-crazed around six months old.
Has he ever caught a fish?/What does he do if he gets a fish? He has never caught his own live fish, no. He’s not very stealthy. While it’s a bit messed up, a few times, he’s found dead trout floating in the water. He doesn’t know the difference, so his world lights up, he squeals in excitement, and paws at the fish while following it downriver for as long as he can. More frequently, we hold fish that we’ve caught, and let Ted say “hello” before releasing them. Mostly, he just gets overwhelmed with excitement, screams, shows his teeth, dances, etc., and tries to follow the fish off into the water after release. A few times in the past, he’s “nipped” at fish, without actually touching them. He got into trouble for that and doesn’t try it anymore, but this is what makes me think his excitement might be a herding instinct.
He looks just like my dog! One of the most heartwarming parts of this whole thing was how many people sent me photos of their own Teddy doppelgangers. People even tracked me down on other social platforms to do so. A few were absolutely uncanny. All were adorable.
My dog does the same!/My dog is obsessed with _____! So many people commented saying their dogs also do this (or have another silly obsession, like turtles or planes). I’ve loved reading these comments. Who knew there were so many fishing mutts out there? And I have to wonder why some dogs naturally know how to fish? Because I’m a fly fisher and many of my friends are too, I’ve spent a lot of time on the water around dogs. I’ve met other dogs that also get excited about fish, but none as enthusiastically as Ted, and none that actually poke around in the water trying to catch them. But from all of these comments, I’ve gathered that fish-obsessed dogs are not as uncommon as one might think. Regardless, I still understand why it’s a funny concept, especially assuming that most people have never been exposed to a dog with a fishing hobby.
Hobby. Many people pointed out that he’s just a dog with a hobby. The irony is not lost on us that a fishing-obsessed couple ended up with a fishing-obsessed dog.
Did the humane society really say that?/How did the humane society know? I hate to break it to everyone, but no, the humane society never said that. I hope I didn’t mislead anyone, but I was just fitting our story into a silly Tiktok trend the way others had.
Does he have a fish plushy? Many people wanted Ted to have one of those flopping fish cat toys. He’s actually already had one. My sister in law got it for him for Christmas a few years ago. Unfortunately, he was mostly uninterested. He knows the real deal. As far as stuffed toys go, we don’t buy him many because he just destroys them instantly and never touches them again.
Can you say “Fish” to him? Several people asked to see what Ted does when we say the “F” word. I usually avoid it because he gets worked-up but here’s an older video that shows his reaction.
How did you get him/What’s his adoption story? Cole had adopted Teddy as a puppy from a rescue based in Seattle. Teddy’s litter came from Yakima, Washington. I met Cole and Ted when Ted was 3-4 years old.
Did you get anything (monetarily) from the going viral? Not a question I got in comments, but from friends/family IRL. The answer: Not exactly. But that was never the point, and the whole thing has just been a lot of fun. If I had known more and played my cards right, I might have been able to get a small amount of compensation, but probably nothing major. I had a lot of agencies/accounts reaching out to me, asking to share the video. At first, I only agreed to non-exclusive shares with credit. After nearly a month, an agency asked for exclusive rights of the video, with “potential” for paid opportunities and I agreed. I figured I wouldn’t get much more interest in the video because it had been posted for over a month, so why not? Since then, I’ve had other, bigger accounts (like the official Dogs of Instagram page, Storyful, etc.) ask to share the video and but they can’t. The agency I gave the video to never reached out about using the it, so I wish I would have just kept it and let others share. The video did double my TikTok following from ~20k to almost 40k, and because of my account growth, I’ve gotten a few, small paid content opportunities.
Then, there was just a flood of generally sweet comments. People said things like “I love him, “I want him,” “Protect this dog at all costs,” etc. People even offered to buy him toys. You guys are the BEST and Ted loves you, too.
This was actually my third “viral” video on Tiktok. The others were not dog related, and I have to say, the comments on those were more… diverse. While the majority of people commented “normal” things on the other videos, a surprising number of people still came up with pretty nasty things to say. However, there are over 7,400 comments on Ted’s video, and I saw no negative comments. Pretty amazing if you ask me. I guess cute dogs can unite us and bring out the best in humanity?
Still, in an effort to be honest, transparent, and “real” in my content, something that’s important to me, I mentioned in a follow-up video that the fish-obsession wasn’t always adorable to us. I have to admit, there was a period when Cole and I were frustrated with it and we tried our best to train Ted to be less reactive to fish. For one, he screams very loudly and persistently when we hook a fish, and everyone else on the river hears it and looks at us. It’s as if they’re thinking “what’s are you doing to that dog?” Second, he sometimes gets in the way when we’re trying to land fish, a scenario that can be chaotic anyway. He’s been known to get tangled in line or knock fish off the hook. Third, I believe part of Ted’s very vocal fish obsession is rooted in his neurotic nature. We love him, but in general, he’s not always the easiest dog to live with - He’s sometimes “busy” and anxious, he can be reactive with other dogs, etc. Despite being consistent for years, we never made much headway in calming him around fish. So, we decided to just embrace Ted’s uniqueness, and let him live his best life and scream at fish if that’s what makes him happy. Seeing millions of people appreciate Ted’s excitement also gave us a new perspective.
We love Ted, quirks and all. He’s certainly one of the most unique dogs I’ve ever met, and honestly, it doesn’t surprise me that he became an internet sensation. Funny enough, fishing isn’t his only hobby. We’ll have to see what he goes viral for next.