And so it begins. Dogs, once nothing more than an innocent pet and ‘man’s best friend’, are now being trained and used against us. Is nothing sacred anymore?
Alas, it seems not, as one man in China has decided to train his dog to watch over his daughter as she does her homework. What a cruel, cruel world we live in.
The Dr Doolittle of a father decided to train his dog to ‘supervise’ his daughter as she would reportedly get distracted too easily, constantly staring at her phone rather than her schoolwork. Sadly, I think we’ve all been there.
The punitive incident went down in Guiyang, in the Guizhou province, south-west China. And, as the video shows, the stern-looking canine perches with its front paws on the desk as the daughter gets on with some algebra.
According to dad Xu, the helpful homework hound joined the family in December in 2016 when he was only a puppy, and has grown up with the girl. So, hopefully, she respects the pooch’s authority, rather than having to take orders from an new overlord you’ve never met.
Mr Xu said, via MailOnline:
It’s very well-behaved. I have been training it since it was young and now it does whatever I tell it to do.
He added:
I pointed at the coffee table and told it to watch my daughter as she does her homework. It would then guard her and make sure she doesn’t reach for her phone.
It seems dogs are doing all sorts for us mere humans these days – even setting an example to everyone everywhere by getting involved in the #Trashtag challenge.
The challenge, if you’re unaware, sees people sharing before and after pictures of an area of land which was filled with trash, and now, thanks to the hard work of some lovely people, is litter-free.
It’s not just a few kind humans who are making the effort to make our world a better place, either. One helpful dog named Midge has also caught on to the trend.
Photos of the litter-picking pup were shared on social media, where the Twitter user simply explained:
Midge trades trash for treats on his walks. #trashtag
Good on you Midge, we can all learn a lot from these dogs. Do your homework, pick up your litter, and the world will be a better place. Too much? Nah, you can handle it.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.