Watch Brave Beagle Working Up the Courage To Face 'Nemesis' on Walk

A beagle was involved in a tense standoff with an unexpected foe during a walk with his owner.

Gappie was out for a stroll with his owner Manon in an area of woodland close to where they live in Amsterdam, Netherlands, when they came across an unusual sight.

Lurking in the bushes in front of them was a helium balloon. Not just any helium balloon either, this was a Spider-Man shaped one. But while Manon was happy to walk by, Gappie stopped in his tracks, evidently perturbed by what he had encountered and began to bark.

In truth, Manon completely understood why his pet pooch reacted in this way.

"I do not think Gappie ever encountered a balloon before," he told Newsweek. "So imagine seeing one for the first time in your life. A flying object in the bushes that looks like Spider-Man?! Honestly, I would be scared too!"

Gappie isn't the first dog to experience anxiety in this type of situation and he certainly won't be the last. In 2020, a study was published in the academic journal Scientific Reports taking a closer look at anxiety in dogs.

As part of the research, the owners of 13,715 dogs were quizzed on their canine's behavior in relation to seven specific anxiety-related traits. Researchers found that 72.5 percent of the dogs taking part in the study exhibited some form of anxiety-like behavior.

While noise was the most commonly recorded source of anxiety (32 percent), the study found 15 percent of dogs experienced a fear of strangers.

Gappie could well fall into this category. After all, he did not know that the strange figure in his path was simply an inflatable picture of a superhero, which may go some way to explaining his reaction. Manon added that the very fact the balloon was floating must have been disconcerting to his dog.

"I would also be afraid of flying objects if I'd never seen one before and didn't know anything about physics and helium," he said. Gappie has been part of Manon's life for three years now and, as he puts it, is a "true Beagle from head to toe."

"He is quirky, curious, sweet, vocal and slightly crazy. His favorite pastime activities are definitely eating and cycling," he said. "I take Gappie everywhere with me on the bike and he loves it."

Manon credits Gappie's beagle tendencies as the key driver behind his scared reaction to the balloon. "They are extremely curious, but so easily spooked," he said. "And when they get spooked, they tend to overreact and dramatize everything a tad bit."

In this instance, having been initially hesitant about moving past the balloon, Gappie then plucked up the courage to walk, or rather, run past it. Very fast. While barking.

The entire debacle had Manon in hysterics behind the camera. "I just kept watching the video over and over again and couldn't stop laughing," he said. It generated a similar reaction on social media, with viewers left chuckling at Gappie's response to his balloon "nemesis."

"The most beagle thing I have ever seen," one wrote with another commenting: "My beagle would demand I carry him past the threat."

A viewer added: "My son floated a balloon into the kitchen where our beagle was all by himself and the poor dog peed himself from fear."

Despite the hilarity of it all, Manon is impressed at how Gappie handled the problem. "I was truly proud of him when he decided to put his fear aside and run past the balloon," he said. "The execution of this heroic deed however.... left something to desire."

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