Some pups have modesty while others don’t. English bulldog Lavelle falls into the latter category after he had to rethink his lifestyle choices after falling off the couch.
In the TikTok clip shared by @lavelle_maslow on Aug. 17, Lavelle’s modesty is put to the test when he can’t get down even while his mom is watching. Just wait to see his face when he realizes his mom saw him fall!
“The way he looked back to see if I saw him fall,” the funny video says. Lavelle, who is standing on the couch with his paws up, attempts to turn and walk away from Mom when he loses his footing.
The dog shyly tries to get back up, though he appears a little embarrassed, turning to see if Mom made him fall (she does). He walks away but looks back once more to capture her reaction and just in case, I might be too embarrassed! “I’m not laughing with you…I’m laughing at you,” the caption reads. Meanwhile, some of Lavelle’s fans also chimed in to show their support.
“Seeing if you’re laughing at him,” one person wrote. “Negative baby,” another said. “I’m seeing that too,” another added.
The English Bulldog is a down-to-earth comical dog who knows how to make fun of Mom, so we figure he won’t let this little incident bother him for long!
Can Dogs Feel Embarrassed?
When a dog does something funny, it seems he recognizes the embarrassment and thinks about it in some way. But, Dr. Terri Vivid, director of behavior services in the behavior department at MSPCA/Angell, tells PetMD that determining whether or not a dog can feel embarrassed depends on how we interpret their body language cues.
“For a dog to feel embarrassed, they need to have an above-average understanding of social norms and morals, which is something people don’t have,” Vivid explains.
That said, since dogs can’t tell exactly how they’re feeling, we’re the ones who decide their emotions based solely on body language. The problem is that some pups have picked up on cues (like yawning and head-turning) that make it seem like they might be embarrassed when they’re not.
On top of that, they have a different way of speaking than people do, so we’re just not able to properly label them. Having said that, Lavelle looked pretty embarrassed after his clumsy fall, making him even more endearing and relatable!