Baiting your pets on social media is not innocent fun

Blue Cross is horrified about the latest social media craze where pet owners are sharing videos and images of themselves getting up close to their pet and surprising them when they are asleep or removing their food when eating. Using hashtags like ‘#invadeyourdogspersonalspace’ and ‘#invadeyourpetsspace’ there have been over half a million views of these posts so far.

Examples we’ve seen include making loud noises next to sleeping pets to film how they react, getting into a pets’ bed when they are sleeping and waking them suddenly when face to face.

While we are sure the intent is innocent fun, it is vital pet owners understand that this is a potentially dangerous activity and extremely traumatic and stressful for most pets who may go on to develop serious behaviour problems.