Sadie is a magnet for attention. The St. Albert pooch earned international fandom after her owner uploaded a video on YouTube of the six-year-old German shepherd-border collie cross playing an organ. It went crazy viral.
Sadie is a magnet for attention. The St. Albert pooch earned international fandom after her owner uploaded a video on YouTube of the six-year-old German shepherd-border collie cross playing an organ.
It went crazy viral. The 28-second video jumped from YouTube to the Daily Mail, Rumble, Inquisitor, BuzzFeed and numerous news organizations. YouTube alone received more than 354,000 hits and the Daily Mail reached the million mark.
“I never expected this. I just put her video on YouTube,” says owner Casi Hofstede, owner-operator of Anything's Pawsible.
In the footage, the musically-minded dog sits on a bench, gently switches on an electric organ with her nose and plonks a few discordant notes on the keyboard with front paws.
After a breezy start, the four-footed superstar pauses, looks into the camera and takes a graceful bow with head touching her front paws and butt in the air.
Web response has varied. Below are a few samples.
“What a time to be alive. Dogs are awesome.”
“I can't believe people train their dogs to do stupid sh#t like this.”
“Cute video, gorgeous and smart dog!”
“That's some awesome avant-garde jazz right there.”
Hofstede recognizes that her pup's intelligence and motivation for learning tricks is “pretty cool” while acknowledging that the flood of attention is “a little surreal.”
“I've always known she was a superstar. When she was on the adoption floor, I taught her five tricks the first day – begging, shaking a paw, fetching, sitting and laying down.”
In some ways, Sadie's easy-going video presentation is diametrically opposite to the start she had in life.
Hofstede adopted Sadie at seven months from the Edmonton Humane Society right at the start of her professional career as dog trainer. As in many situations, the pup's previous owners surrendered her.
Unfortunately, Sadie had an insecure temperament and displayed aggression, fear and touch sensitivities. Hofstede believes lack of socialization was a large contributing factor.
“She was also extremely energetic. She needed about three hours of exercise every day, and that was part of the reason I got into teaching her tricks. It was a way to give her exercise and stimulate her mind.”
To date, Hofstede has taught the 48-lb. dog more than 100 party tricks ranging from fetching a Frisbee from a tree and blowing bubbles in a glass to doing reverse leg weaves and walking on feet.
“She picks up on things quickly. She's extremely intelligent. She makes my job so easy.”
For the organ-pounding trick, Hofstede simply chained together a series of little behaviours into a larger one. Throughout the viral performance, Hofstede directs the furry organist with verbal and hand signals.
Some may view the uploaded video as exploiting a dog for the ultimate 15-minutes of fame the Internet offers. But watching Sadie perform in her living room, it's quickly obvious the pooch is eager to please her owner and loves sitting in the spotlight.
The feeling is mutual and as Hofstede describes their relationship, you come to realize there is a very deep tie between the two.
“She's my other half. Until I adopted her, it was as if a piece of myself was missing.”
In addition to training canines, Hofstede is very active in the rescue community working with seven different agencies. Delighted to parade Sadie's intelligence and skill on the web, she is also hoping the video helps to erase stigmas about rescue animals.
“This is a great opportunity to showcase what amazing dogs rescue animals are, and I encourage people to spend more time with their dogs and teach them tricks. It helps to build a bond between you and it stimulates their brain and challenges their mind.”
Sadie's complete life story is available at www.anythings-pawsible.ca.
