Bulldog Demands Bite of Owner's Food in Most 'Dramatic' Way Possible

A French bulldog has been caught on camera demanding a bite of his owner's food in the most dramatic way possible.

Ortzy Arbinaga, who is originally from Buenos Aires but currently lives in Amsterdam with his wife, told Newsweek his 8-year-old dog Sunny never used to be much of a talker. "He talked for the first time just two years ago but it's only since last May that he's started talking much more," he said.

Arbinaga still remembers what set him off that first time though. "Sunny started talking one day when we were getting ready to go out for a bike ride," he said. "He became anxious to see us getting ready and started making funny noises and then kind of nagging us thinking we were going to leave him."

He said that whether or not Sunny talks varies based on the situation at hand. "It depends a lot on his mood and the activities we are doing, but usually what makes him talk the most is when we are getting ready to go out, when he is resting in his stroller after a long walk and when we go somewhere in the car," Arbinaga said.

Another situation where Sunny talks a lot is when one of his owners has food. In a clip posted to TikTok under the handle sunny_emilio, the French bulldog can be heard moaning from his stroller having spotted one of his human companions enjoying a bite to eat.

The moaning, accompanied by the occasional growl and even a bark, continues for several seconds, with the inference clear: Sunny wants a bite. "He is so dramatic," an onscreen caption reads.

Arbinaga said this kind of thing is a common occurrence. "Whenever we are eating or cooking, he makes the 'puppy face' so that we feel sorry for him and give him a little bit," he said. "But in reality, we always try to take good care of him with the food and not give him anything different from his special food."

Though it might often seem like dogs would favor a bite of food over pretty much anything else in life, research says otherwise. In a 2016 study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, researchers put the theory to the test with an experiment involving 13 dogs.

They started by training the dogs to associate three distinct objects with different outcomes. A pink toy truck was linked to a food reward, a blue toy knight resulted in verbal praise from their owner and a hairbrush offered no rewards.

Each of the dogs was trained to stand in an fMRI machine while researchers recorded their neural activity in response to the three objects.

All of the dogs exhibited more significant neutral activation towards the rewards of either food or praise compared with the hairbrush. Four of the dogs exhibited stronger neural activation when presented with the blue toy knight linked to verbal praise while just two exhibited similarly strong readings in relation to the pink toy offering a food reward. Nine showed similar levels for both.

The results suggest that the love and affection an owner provides remains paramount in most dog's thoughts. Sunny certainly has plenty of reasons to love Arbinaga and his wife, given the life they have provided for him.

Asked what some of Sunny's favorite things to do are, Arbinaga said: "He likes to walk with daddy, play with his toys, take in the sun on the terrace, go to the beach, and loves any food and sleep!"

He might be a touch dramatic when it comes to food, but Sunny has got it pretty good.

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