Border Collie in 'Stare Down' at Vets, Then Owner Realizes What He Can See

Newsweek

a day ago

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A dog has gone viral for his intense reaction to spotting an artwork of a cat while on a visit to the veterinarian's office.
Kelsie, who posts to TikTok under the username @kelsieg23, is the proud owner of a border collie, a working breed known for their intelligence, durability—and famous "herding eye," according to the American Kennel Club (AKC).
This intense stare intimidates sheep to move through the fields, according to a vet-reviewed report from Wag!. Originally bred to work as herders on farms, border collies kept as family pets have retained their herding eye due to instinct—as proven by a viral video to Kelsie's account.
Posted on June 5, and receiving close to 4 million views, the clip shows the blue-eyed collie sitting on the ground and looking upwards, wide-eyed and unblinking.
Not moving a muscle, the collie stares intensely at something above him—and the camera then pans to show what's triggered this response.
And, rather than prey or any farm animal waiting to be herded, it's revealed to be an artwork of a black cat, its face and paws just visible above the door.
When Kelsie pans the camera back to the dog, he's changed his stance—he now stands, closer to the door, with one paw off the ground in a pointing gesture, and still not taking his eyes off the fake cat.
Kelsie added to the intensity of the short clip by pairing it with dramatic music from Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake," and added as a hashtag in the caption: "Stare down."
It proved massively popular, racking up more than 585,0000 likes.
"The craziest part is that paper cat will blink first," one commenter joked, as another wrote: "Not him using his eye lasers, pointing leg, and whole body making sure you see it too."
Another said the collie was "doing mental calculations on the angle of the ladder he will build and then climb."
One praised "the music, the acting, the cinematography" of the video, and yet another predicted "he'll be there for hours."
Another commenter, a fan of border collies, wrote: "The tension is outrageous, gotta love herding breeds."
The border collie stares intensely at artwork of a cat with the breed's herding eye.
The border collie stares intensely at artwork of a cat with the breed's herding eye.
TikTok @kelsieg23
In a later video posted to her account, Kelsie proved her pup isn't affected just by artwork of cats, but the real thing, too, as she shared a clip of the border collie having an intense stare-off with her cat in their home.
As one commenter summed it up in the original video: "One thing bout collies is they be looking."
Newsweek has contacted @kelsieg23 via TikTok for comment on this story.
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