Owner Tries To Teach German Shepherd Puppy the Word 'No'—Doesn't Go To Plan
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A German shepherd puppy named Milo has captured hearts on social media, after a video of him categorically refusing to learn the word "no" went viral.
The hilarious clip, shared on TikTok on Wednesday, under the username @goodboymilo.gsd, shows Milo's owner attempting to teach him the meaning of the word "no," unsuccessfully.
"The game continues, I definitely think I'm winning," reads the caption, as the owner keeps saying "no" to the puppy, even pointing his finger at him. However, the young canine refuses to learn the new command, and instead responds by pawing his owner and playfully nibbling on his hand.
While the stubborn puppy just flat out refuses to learn the new word, most dogs can actually understand between 15 and 200 words, with a well-trained dog recognizing about 165 words, just like a 2-year old toddler.
Moreover, the experts at VCA Animal Hospitals say that dogs don't just react to sounds; they actually associate words with objects, actions and outcomes.
With the right training, canines can learn even more words. Military and police dogs often learn over 250 words, crucial for their job. Some incredibly intelligent breeds, such as Border collies, German shepherds and poodles, are known for regularly hitting 1,000-word milestones.
A Border collie named Chaser holds the record for knowing the most words a dog has ever been able to learn. After three years of intense training, Chaser learned about 1,022 words.
The most-popular words that dogs can learn include cues such as "off," "fetch," "shake," and "go get your …"; items such as "collar," "ball," "crate," and "vacuum"; and people, including the vet, neighbors, friends, and family members.
Canines can also learn "peanut butter," "carrot," "dinner," "treat," and other foods; as well as a variety of other phrases classified as games, such as "I love you," "thank you," and "what a sweetie."
Stock image: A German shepherd puppy sits against a rock wall background.
Stock image: A German shepherd puppy sits against a rock wall background.
getty images
The video quickly gained traction on social media, receiving over 14,000 views and more than 1,200 likes on the platform so far.
One user, Cardocrap, commented: "Tbh [to be honest] if someone waved their finger in my face I wouldn't like it either."
Another user, Shay, added: "The chomps! maybe you should try yes."
Newsweek reached out to @goodboymilo.gsd for comment via TikTok comments. We could not verify the details of the case.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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A military helicopter arrives to rescue stranded New Orleans residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A military helicopter arrives to rescue stranded New Orleans residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. John Keller/John Keller The Oscar-nominated director counteracted this with personal and individualized footage. "You can either look at footage, look through hundreds of hours and see like shirtless Black men running crazy and say like, 'That's a criminal,' or you say 'that's a human being that's trying to survive' and allow that to inform the storytelling, which is what I and the team did," she explained. "You as the audience member must look into the eyes of the human being." Personal stories include that of Lucrece, a mother trapped in her attic with her children. Her daughter wrote their names on the walls, believing they were going to die. They were rescued by boat, but had to confront her haunting reality, a submerged city. Lucrece Phillips, resident of the 8th Ward at the time of Hurricane Katrina, who shared her harrowing rescue story in the documentary series. Lucrece Phillips, resident of the 8th Ward at the time of Hurricane Katrina, who shared her harrowing rescue story in the documentary series. Disney/National Geographic/Disney/National Geographic "There's a point at which she sees the body of a dead baby in the water. She says, 'Stop the boat, we have to get her.' The man goes, 'We have to focus on the living,'" Curry recalled. Lessons Learned? Fast‑forward 20 years and New Orleans is a city forever etched by disaster. The Lower Ninth Ward was completely decimated by Katrina, and today the area once populated by working‑class Black residents remains largely vacant. "It looks like it just happened," Curry said. "There's footage in the fifth episode we shot last year: block after block of concrete steps leading nowhere—houses that no longer exist. That neighborhood has never recovered." Meanwhile, gentrification has "turbo‑charged" the displacement of the original community, as rising housing costs transform shotgun doubles into Airbnbs with skyrocketing rents. Natural disasters are still having devastating effects. Before production wrapped, Hurricane Helene made landfall in September 2025, causing extreme flooding in Asheville, North Carolina. Crushed vehicles and storm debris sit along the Swannanoa River in a landscape scarred by Hurricane Helene on March 24, 2025, in Asheville, North Carolina. Crushed vehicles and storm debris sit along the Swannanoa River in a landscape scarred by Hurricane Helene on March 24, 2025, in Asheville, North Carolina. AFP/Getty Images "There were different weather events—the fires in Hawaii and Los Angeles. All very different. Katrina was singular in many ways, but we've seen the same contours: a weather event exacerbated by man‑made environmental impacts, an infrastructure unfit to sustain it, and harm that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable. As severe weather worsens with climate change, this will only continue unless we center the needs of the most vulnerable before the storm," Curry warned. Curry added that, while Katrina's impact is New Orleans‑centric, similar inequalities plague other communities—like the predominantly Black "Cancer Alley" upriver, where higher-than-average cancer rates have been blamed on factory pollution, or neighborhoods saddled with heat‑intensive data "server farms" and tainted water. "Katrina's story just has so much to teach us about related issues that are continuing to happen today. I hope people wake up," she added. Highlighting this point is footage of President George W. Bush flying over the apocalyptic scenes of New Orleans. The series cuts in near‑identical footage from 1965's Hurricane Betsy—when the Lower Ninth Ward was submerged similarly—yet that time President Lyndon Johnson came immediately, and emergency operations began at once. Curry notes that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), whose response was heavily criticized, has since learned from Katrina and adjusted policies to better serve those most vulnerable before a storm. But today the agency faces significant financial cuts, and its survival hangs in the balance as political pressures threaten to dismantle the system altogether. Yet the bigger story Curry wants to tell—decades on from disaster—is one of community. "Even in the most inhumane conditions, when all of these systems had failed and civil society broke down, these people did not lose their humanity. 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