A video of dogs running to "save" their owner after she was spotted lying on the ground has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip, which had 5.3 million views at the time of writing, was posted by Kelly Dinham (@kellydinham). The footage showed a woman standing in a grass field, while three border collies walked ahead of her in the distance.
A message overlaid on the video read: "Pretending to faint to see my dogs' reaction...," as a woman in the clip was seen falling onto the grass, lying still with her hands stretched above her head and legs bent over to one side.
A later note overlaid on the clip read: "Let's go save her," as the dogs in the distance were shown running towards the woman.
The response of the dogs in the latest clip is not surprising as our canine friends may be instinctively wired to protect their owners, according to an April 2020 study published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One.
The study, which looked at whether dogs would release their "seemingly trapped" owners from a large box, found that dogs released the owner more often when the owner "called for help" (the distress test) than when the owner "read aloud calmly" (the reading test).
The study found that "dogs were as likely to release their distressed owner as to retrieve treats from inside the box, indicating that rescuing an owner may be a highly rewarding action for dogs."
The study noted that the dogs displayed more stress behaviors in the distress test than in the reading test. "This evidence of emotional contagion supports the hypothesis that rescuing the distressed owner was an empathetically-motivated prosocial behavior," the study said.
While releasing the owner could be attributed "primarily to other motivations," the study found "multiple lines of evidence indicated that prosocial tendencies represented a significant component of the dog's motivation to rescue the owner."
@kellydinham Thanks for the help, puppies! 🐕❤️ #pretendingtofaint #bordercollie #adoptdontshop #dogsoftiktok
♬ Little Things - Adrian Berenguer
After the woman in the latest viral video appeared to collapse onto the floor, the pooches were shown looking back as a message overlaid on the clip said: "Look at that crazy lady."
Two dogs began running towards her before the third one joined and a subsequent note on the video read: "I don't want to miss out."
Another message read: "Is she dead?" as one dog appeared to sniff her feet. The dogs placed their heads closer to the woman's head and arms, as a subsequent note across the clip said: "I think she wants us to lick her face."
The woman was seen getting up as another note across the video read: "Yes, that has fixed her," before the clip ended.
A caption shared with the post read: "Thanks for the help, puppies!"
The latest clip has delighted users on TikTok.
User shawn7447 wrote: "Your dog ambulance got you," while user6854293158836 said, "Paramedics saved u."
User Jane wrote: "That's so sweet," while Enoch said, "Dogs are amazing creatures."
User k00k00vaya noted: "1st dog noticed immediately," and michellesookhai said these dogs are "protective."
Sunny pets Meow said, "Good dogs," while Elaine wrote: "Aww bless them they love you."
Newsweek has contacted the original poster via TikTok and email for comment. This video has not been independently verified.
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