Puppy's First-Ever Bark Caught on Camera Melts Hearts—'Special Moments'

A dog owner was able to catch one of the most important moments of her pet's life on camera, and the clip has melted hearts all over social media.

In the now-viral post shared on TikTok in March, under the username @beauthebabygolden, the golden retriever puppy, Beau, is caught barking for the first time ever, to the surprise of her owner, who was just trying to film a cute clip of him. "The first puppy bark. Capturing the special moments," she writes in the caption.

While they may grow up to be very loud, and get you in trouble with your neighbors for it, puppies are not born barking. When they come into the world, dogs are actually deaf, as well as blind, and are only able to make tiny cooing or whimpering sounds.

Pet-wellness experts at Rover say that, after three to four weeks, their senses rapidly develop, their eyes open up, and by the time they are 8 weeks old, most puppies will have already learned to bark.

However, if your pet never starts barking, that is also usually no cause of concern; in fact, while some dogs may start a bit later, others may never learn.

"Since barking is rarely used for inter-dog communication, it's believed barking resulted from dog domestication. In fact, barking may not have served a purpose in ancient wild dog communities at all," the Rover website adds.

The video quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 11.8 million views and more than 2.6 million likes on the platform.

One user, Cynthia, commented: "I will always remember my pup's first bark, my brother and I were so much younger and had no idea what was happening we thought he was angry but he was just excited."

Ren_h3rrera shared: "When my little bark for the first time, it was a really emotional moment to me, I cried lots and lots." And user6519884235620 added: "OMG [oh my god], look at the stompers on that beautiful pup. He's going to [be] a big boy."

Another user, Anastasia, wrote: "My heart belongs to baby golden retrievers [cry]." And Yara posted: "The amount of accounts I follow just because they have goldens is crazy to me."

Newsweek reached out to @beauthebabygolden 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.

puppy's fist ever bark
A golden retriever puppy barks in a meadow. A dog owner caught her pet's first bark on camera, and it has gone viral. Getty Images

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Maria Azzurra Volpe is a Newsweek Lifestyle Reporter based in London. Her focus is reporting on lifestyle and trends-related stories, ... Read more

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