That viral video of a dog playing piano is definitely staged

I keep seeing this clip of a golden retriever 'playing' Mozart with its paws on a keyboard. It has millions of views and people are calling it a genius animal. But I watched it frame by frame and you can clearly see a trainer's hand offscreen hitting the keys for the complex parts. The dog only touches the keys during simple one-note sections. I checked the original upload and it came from a paid content farm, not a real pet owner. Why do people just believe what they see online without looking closer? Has anyone else caught the slight hand reflection in the piano's gloss? That's how I spotted it.

3 comments

3 Comments

kim.nina25d ago

Isn't that how most of the internet works now, where people desperately want to believe in something magical so they stop questioning it?

gray_morgan24d ago

I mean, what worked for me was just forcing myself to fact-check one wild claim a day until it became a habit. It's not foolproof but it helps keep my brain from buying into every pretty story.

moore.beth24d ago

Fact-checking one claim a day sounds like homework I'd procrastinate on.