Golden Retrievers Unwilling To Cross Glass-Bottom Bridge and We Can't Blame Them

Though an entire industry exists to post silly videos about things your pets do—be it cats jumping at the sight of cucumbers or dogs who don’t seem to understand that the mailman is supposed to come to the door every day—but honestly, I often feel like these animals are burdened with more common sense than my own kids. The person who posted this video of a pair of Golden Retrievers quite reasonably wanting nothing to do with crossing a glass-bottomed bridge clearly thinks that the dogs are acting dumb—using goofy music and “snickering” sound effects to underscore their point—but honestly, who can blame them?

That thing looks dangerous.

In the video, a pair of Golden Retrievers are hanging back behind their owners at what appears to be the Bach Long, or White Dragon glass-bottomed suspension bridge in Vietnam. Though one of the dogs eventually gives in and follows its owner across the structure, the other whines, holds back, and at one point pulls so hard it breaks free from its leash and harness altogether.

Related: Dog Dad Lists Silly Yet Sweet Things His Golden Retriever Is Scared Of

Funny this is not. Now you have a loose, panicking dog in a delicate, dangerous, elevated area where a lot more people than the canine are rightfully nervous.

In the video, the dog slowly inches along on its belly along the firmest edge of the bridge, whining constantly, as its warring desires to follow its owner and not plummet to its death do a real number on the poor pup’s sense of equilibrium.

Glass Bottom Bridges

Bach Long is currently the world’s longest glass-bottomed bridge, stretching for over six hundred meters alongside and across a rocky gorge northwest of Hanoi. The section in the video hangs nearly five hundred feet above the forest int eh gorge below. The tempered glass can hold up to four hundred and fifty people at a time. No word on the limits for dogs.

The whole point of glass bottom bridges are to act as a tourist attraction, and people are amazed, thrilled, and terrified by these structures in equal measure. Videos abound online of adult humans who freak out on these bridges and cling to the solid edges, praying to survive. Can we really blame an animal, who maybe doesn’t have as firm a grasp on modern engineering marvels (and might find the glass surface slippery and uncertain on their paws), for feeling a bit uneasy by the prospect?

Respecting Your Dog’s Boundaries

Maybe I’m just an old softy, but I don’t think it’s fun to scare animals or children for fun. I love my goofball cats, and I definitely tease them with feather toys, or laugh when they carefully park their furry behinds in a square we marked on the floor with tape, but that’s way different from putting them unnecessarily through what is clearly a terrifying ordeal. My old dog was deeply afraid of the back windshield wipers when she rode with us in the car. I made a point never to turn them on when she was with us. It’s just not nice.

Luckily, in the video, you can see this dog’s owner take pity on the pup, and walk alongside it as it tentatively makes it way across the space. She had to do something, though. They appear to be halfway through the trip at this point.

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