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By Maria Azzurra Volpe
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A dog owner from the United Kingdom has left internet users in tears after sharing her Staffordshire bull terrier’s reaction to spotting her reflection in the mirror.
In a viral TikTok video shared on Tuesday under the username @g.dettmar2, the pup can be seen joining her mom as she cleans the bedroom, going in for pets before getting distracted by her owner’s reflection in the mirror.
As soon as she recognizes her mom in the reflection, the pup starts wagging her tail vigorously, leaning into to the mirror for cuddles. Her owner tries to explain to her how mirrors work, before embracing her in a warm hug.
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“Caught the cutest moment with my 14-year-old staffy," the caption says. “Dogs are the best thing to walk this earth.”
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While the pup recognized her mom in the mirror, she didn’t fully understand that it was just a reflection of her, and acted like a it was a real life double—she also didn’t recognize herself, because dogs aren't self‑aware.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) explains that dogs’ self‑awareness is traditionally tested through the mirror test, to evaluate whether they can recognize their own reflection.
While humans and a few other species have the ability to pass the test, dogs do not, likely because they rely far more on smell than sight. That’s why researchers proposed a scent‑based alternative: the sniff test of self‑recognition.
In these new studies, dogs were presented with canisters containing their own urine, their urine with an added scent, unfamiliar dogs’ urine, or other controls.
Dogs consistently spent more time investigating modified versions of their own scent and unfamiliar dogs’ scents, indicating they recognized their natural odor as “theirs” and noticed when it had been altered.
A second experiment using a neutral scent confirmed that dogs were responding to changes in their own odor rather than simply being attracted to a strong smell.
These findings suggest dogs may possess a form of self‑recognition through scent, though whether this equates to full self‑awareness remains debated.
The video quickly went viral on social media and it has so far received over 99,000 views and 22,200 likes on the platform.
One user, Kurst, commented: “As soon as she saw you the tail was going crazy.”
Lenčaa said: “She saw her favorite person twice.”
Bryan added: “If she wagged any faster she would take off.”
Newsweek reached out to @g.dettmar2 for comment via email. 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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