Viral TikTok Sparks Debate Over Whether Dog Is Deaf or Just Ignoring Her Owner

A golden moment of canine mystery has gone viral on TikTok after one dog’s behavior left her owner—and thousands of viewers—wondering if she has real hearing issues or is simply perfecting the art of ignoring.

Source: TikTok

The clip, shared by TikTok user @jpb1478, affectionately known as “Mabel’s Owner,” shows his dog Mabel sitting serenely in the garden while he repeatedly calls her name. No matter how many times he tries, Mabel never turns her head. Instead, her ears flick slightly, as though betraying that she might, in fact, hear him. Overlay text humorously reads: “She is either deaf or has been faking it for five years, I’m still not sure.”

Her owner even jokes aloud, “No, deaf as a stone,” while Mabel remains locked in her peaceful gaze toward the yard. Since the video’s posting on August 22, it has drawn over 313,000 views and thousands of comments from fellow dog lovers eager to weigh in.

Viewers quickly joined the debate. Some insisted that her twitching ears revealed she could hear just fine, while others suggested she might dislike her name or was simply uninterested in responding. “Her ears move. She hears you,” one person commented. “Say TREAT and watch her come running.” Another added, “Dogs don’t ignore snack bags—that’s the real hearing test.”

Source: TikTok

The owner has leaned into the humor, continuing the saga with additional clips. In one follow-up video titled “day 1827 of is she deaf or faking it,” he even tried calling to her in Pennsylvania Dutch, yet Mabel remained unbothered. Responding to one viewer who quipped that maybe Mabel wasn’t her name at all, he admitted: “I did rescue her and never asked her name.”

While the internet has embraced the comedy, veterinarians note that determining true deafness in dogs requires more than casual observation. A Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) test, which measures how the brain reacts to sound, is the gold standard for diagnosing hearing loss. However, many cases of partial hearing loss can look just like “selective listening,” leaving owners unsure whether their dogs can hear or are simply ignoring commands.

Whether Mabel is genuinely hard of hearing or just an expert in playing it cool, her owner doesn’t seem to mind. The lighthearted clips have resonated with pet parents everywhere, many of whom see their own dogs in her nonchalant attitude. One viewer summed it up best: “Selective hearing—my kids have it too.”

Source: TikTok

For now, Mabel remains an adorable enigma, proving that sometimes the mystery of whether a pet is ignoring us or simply can’t hear is part of the charm that keeps us laughing.

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This content was created with AI assistance and edited by the iHeartDogs team.