Baby Steals German Shepherd’s Treat, Dad Is In Stitches About Dog’s Retaliation

Jan 12, 2021

Ava is a little girl who just loves her furry friend, Brano. He's a friendly German Shepherd. The two are inseparable. The only thing that could possibly get between them? Feeding time!

Ava's dad caught the two on camera the moment when Ava took away Brano's doggie treat all the way back in 2007. The old video turned into a classic of children-dog interactions and captured millions of hearts around the globe.

You see, both baby and doggie are equally into treats. Ava's dad gave Brano a little reward one day, so he had a lovely dog treat bone to crunch on. That really grabbed little Ava's interest. While Brano was distracted by the goodies and munching away, Ava decided to take one half for herself.
She cleverly got underneath Brano's muzzle and off to the other side, where more treats were hiding. Brano was completely unsuspecting. After all, he was currently enjoying some excellent dog munchies. When Brano was done with the first half of his snack, he looked around to see where the rest of it had disappeared to. That's when he noticed what Ava had done.

Brano attempted to claim the snack back. But not so fast. Ava was much more intelligent than that. She hid the treat behind her back and even turned around to deny the German Shepherd access. Of course, Brano is equally smart — and has a pretty powerful nose, too. It wasn't long before he figured out where Ava was hiding his treat. Meanwhile, Ava's dad was similarly laughing and chastising his daughter. "Did you take Brano's treat, Ava?", he can be heard asking in the video. "Give Brano back his treat, he deserved it. Ava, give it back.", he kept saying. Little Ava was completely unimpressed. She had decided that Brano was most certainly not getting that treat, and not even her daddy's complaining could make her change her mind.

Her father, however, proved that little Ava was his daughter and wasn't having any of it. When he tried to take the treat himself, Ava even kept it away from him! Since his wayward child was refusing his verbal commands to surrender the doggie snack, he decided to try another approach. While ordering Brano to take back his treat, he distracted little Ava by pretending to give her a high five. Immediately, Ava was all smiles. Maybe the whole thing had just been a clever ploy to get more of daddy's attention, and now she finally had it!

While the young girl was distracted, Brano tried to reclaim the treat by mouthing it out of Ava's hand. This German Shepherd had met his match, though. Despite dog and daddy working together, Ava only held onto the prize even tighter. (Pretty strong for a baby!)

Brano wasn't aggressive at all during these moments. He waited patiently for Ava to give back the treat, despite all her antics. This video showcases perfectly that German Shepherds can be very stable, even-tempered dogs.

This dog breed's temperament has been studied before. The American Temperament Test Society (ATTS), a non-profit organization from Missouri which was founded to study and test the temperament of all dogs and work for their betterment, found that the German Shepherd had an extremely high pass rate for their temperament test, with 85.3% of dogs passing (the study looked at 3383 dogs).

Many people think a German Shepherd is not an ideal dog to have around children. However, nothing could be farther from the truth! German Shepherds are natural protectors and very affectionate. As The Smart Canine put it: 

"From appearance alone, the German Shepherd doesn't look like the typical "kid-friendly" dog. In fact, they look quite the opposite. With a huge, muscular frame and sharp snout, the GSD is not a dog many people would willingly approach."

Since they are shepherding dogs, it's important to know what you are getting into before getting one. Being bred for the important task of herding cattle, these dogs have strong herding instincts. This sometimes manifests as "nipping" at people's heels - especially young children, who are smaller and younger and naturally raise a herding dogs' instincts. Some people can become scared or worried when they see this behavior since we humans tend to interpret it as a threatening gesture. This couldn't be farther from the truth; the dog is simply reacting to sudden movement in the way it was trained to do: direct it.

Another trait of herding dogs like German Shepherds is their high intelligence, trainability, and need for action. On the topic of herding, the American Kennel Club said:

"Giving your dog's mind and body a proper workout is another essential. Herding breeds were developed to work hard all day long. They are incredibly smart and will find their own fun if you don't give them something to do. Make sure you are providing enough physical exercise for your dog. Lastly, consider games that challenge your dog's brain like hide and seek or other puzzle-solving activities. [...] It's unrealistic to expect your dog to never express any herding instincts. Instead, consider finding an acceptable outlet for channeling those drives."

So in this case, Ava's little kame of keep-away might be exactly what Brano needs and likes! Whether the little tyke knew or could feel this or not is questionable of course, but from Brano's perspective, the events of this video might have been great fun. Ava's father surely knew that, as he didn't sound too annoyed and more amused at his daughter's sass. Brano himself never reacted aggressively or threateningly at all, even though he surely wanted that tasty treat for his own.

The footage of their game leaves us in suspense. Will Brano finally get his snack? Or will Ava keep holding onto it? Is dad going to step in again? Sadly, the video cuts off early, but it looks like this German Shepherd has finally met his match! One thing is sure: viewers of all ages will enjoy watching Ava and Brano's little game.

Do you have any pets at home? What do you think of this cute interaction? If it brought a smile to your face then do let us know and pass it along to your friends and family and bring a smile to their faces as well!