Goldendoodle Has Hilarious Reaction to Owner Performing Magic Trick

A goldendoodle's stunned reaction to his owner's magic trick has been captured on camera.

In a video shared with Newsweek by security camera firm Ring, Thor the dog is shown reacting with shock as his owner, Michael, "pulls" a disappearing ball from his ear.

Thor appears thoroughly confused as to where the ball went or how it ended up there. The footage was captured on a camera set up inside a residence in Poulsbo, Washington State. Speaking to Ring, the dog's owner Michael said: "This was my first time playing 'magic' with my dog. I think that's why he was so shocked when I pulled the ball out of his ear."

In the clip, Thor appears to be following along with the ball. However, a sleight of hand allows his owner to make the object seemingly disappear from view. The goldendoodle begins searching around for the ball to no avail before his human companion is able to seemingly reproduce it from behind the canine's ear.

Thor is left standing stock still, staring at the ball, seemingly baffled at what has just unfolded. Some of that confusion could lie in the fact it's his owner who appears to be the perpetrator of this particular ball-based mystery.

After all, in 2018, a study published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science highlighted how human encouragement appears to play a significant role in helping dogs solve problems.

A series of experiments were conducted involving search-and-rescue and pet dogs. Canines from the two groups were presented with the same problem-solving task: a puzzle box containing two sausages that they had just two minutes to open.

While both sets of dogs persisted at trying to complete the task for the same amount of time, the search-and-rescue dogs were found to be more successful at solving the problem if given encouragement by their owners. Yet, when left alone, these dogs failed to solve the task.

While some encouragement from his owner may not have helped Thor work out how the magic trick was performed, the fact his human companion was the one performing the trick probably influenced his surprised response in the video.

Michael actually forgot the security camera was there at the time and only remembered later. Watching back the footage, he was struck by just how "hilarious" Thor's reaction was. "Thor had such a genuine, adorable reaction and a moment of 'What in the world just happened?!'" he said.

The footage is reminiscent of another viral video showing a golden retriever falling for another magic trick. Sometimes, however, the best tricks are the simplest ones.

In another clip, a fellow pet owner showed her own not-so-magic trick for stopping her dog barking. Then there's the canine who went viral after his owner created a video showcase of his "useless" tricks.

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.