Since 2017, a video of a German Shepherd walking down the sidewalk has been viewed on YouTube a whopping 18.6 MILLION times!

Why, you ask?

Well, we can’t justify the number of views, but it is pretty cute (since most dog videos are). And about 40,000 commenters said so as well.

The pooch in question is walking off-leash ahead of its owner down a sidewalk. It looks like an everyday walk to us.

But the cutesy music playing in the background, (Piper Ezz’s fitting composition “A Walk In The Park, for those wondering) makes us aware that we’re going to see more than a dog’s behind for :49 seconds.

The point of the video is that the owner is going to play a trick on his loyal companion.

“A dog you can trust without a leash, and an owner you can’t,” said one commenter of the move.

It’s a very good doggo we’re talking about here since it continually turns around to make sure its owner is still there. Most places have leash laws these days, but some dogs can be trusted without one if there’s no law against it.

“My dog would’ve been across the country before he noticed,” said another viewer impressed with the dog’s leash-less walking skills.

But the “cruel” trick comes a few seconds later when the pup’s dad decides to hide. That means next time our German Shepherd turns around there will be no one there.

Ruh roh – disaster is coming.

How will he or she react to potentially being lost?

Well, it does take the dog a second to notice, but since it’s clearly trained well, the pup has no plans to cross the street by itself.

That’s when the realization hits – the human is missing!

Even though the loyal doggo is partially hidden behind some leaves, it’s like you can feel the confusion.

The music turns the incident into a serious (but still fairly light) moment. Is something bad about to happen?

Will the owner come back? Is the poor dog sad? Are we mad anyone would play such a trick on their loyal companion?

Surprisingly, most commenters found it amusing (we expected most of them to be critical of playing any joke on a dog). But hardly anyone was cross, even if they were very sympathetic towards the anxious dog in search of its owner.

“the way his tail stopped moving and just dropped broke my heart,” said one viewer.

And we have to admit we felt for the pup too!

It immediately began looking for its owner in every direction before retracing its steps.

“I love how dogs care as much about you as your parents would,” said one commenter.

Looking back and forth (and no doubt sniffing out the situation), the dog goes in search of its owner. It stops in the middle of the sidewalk, taking a moment to get it bearings.

Then it even looks farther down the street in the direction it was originally headed in case somehow its owner passed by unnoticed.

When the pup is truly confused and looking abandoned, it’s too much for this dog owner to keep up the charade.

And since he’s videoing it, it’s not like he can really hide behind the tree entirely.

The nose knows – and it appears the dog got one whiff in the right direction and knew exactly which tree to look behind.

There’s dad!

All is well and, honestly, the dog found him so quickly that you almost have to wonder if it was looking for what dad was hiding from instead of dad himself.

“He’s thinking… ‘I know he’s behind that tree coz I can smell him…. is there danger ? Is he hiding from someone ? I don’t see anything'” guessed a commenter.

You be the judge.

Scroll down below to watch the video for yourself.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: Golden Mango via YouTube, Preventive Vet