One of the major rites of passage during childhood is fully understanding the consequences of swallowing certain things. This can include choking hazards, toxic chemicals, and objects that simply taste disgusting, as well as items that would otherwise make the child into an extreme hypochondriac (remember when you were little and someone told you that swallowing a watermelon seed would cause a watermelon to grow inside your belly?).
Animals do not have this luxury, or are at least given a weaker version of it on account of having to measure “consequences” with instinct instead of common sense. It’s none too fair, but we aren’t complaining. After all, if TikTok‘s @laffaknaffe’s Dachshund knew better, we wouldn’t have this cheekily adorable situation laid out before us:
As one can see in the brief 6-second video above, this pup didn’t apply quite enough wisdom to his choice of dinner, having chowed down on either a toy or a device that plays a tune whenever a button is pressed. Indeed, upon poking the dog’s belly, one of those very tunes echoes from within as he stares innocently off into the distance.
This would only be the case, of course, if the video was actually real. Indeed, as a select handful of fed-up commenters pointed out, there’s no way we’d be able to hear a song that clearly if it was actually sounding from within the dog’s stomach. The people demand authenticity from their cute animal videos, dammit!
Other commenters, deliberately or not, neglected the staged nature of the video and simply posted whatever came to mind. Some suggested passing off the pup as a stuffed animal that came to life, while others put out a hefty amount of concern for this tiny dog who would have a very hard time pooping out whatever object would be playing the tune. In all likelihood, it would be too large to pass naturally and too jagged to not be harmful even if it could be squeezed out.
As a result, many a concern was raised over the hypothetical surgery that this dog does not need on account of not actually having swallowed anything that would warrant such a thing. It’s a good thing that he’s not in need of this surgery, too. According to Wag!, a gastrectomy (wherein a foreign object is removed from the dog’s stomach) can cost anywhere between $800 to $7,000, and is usually paired with other similar surgeries, a slew of post-operative medications, and diagnostic imaging prior to the operation.
Most importantly, though, the dog in question does not have a very good time of things, and frankly, that’s the greatest grievance brought on by a canine surgery of any kind. Moral of the story? Make sure to hide your iPods and speakers so as to ensure that your dogs don’t swallow them. If you do, it’ll cost a good chunk of change, your pup will be pretty miserable, and — despite what the internet might have you believe — you won’t even be able to hear the music from inside the dog’s tummy.
Published: Feb 6, 2025 01:42 pm