The internet is obsessed with a golden retriever showcasing her listening skills as her owner told her a very exciting itinerary for the day.
Katie Marielli, 28, lives in Columbus, Ohio, and is the proud owner of golden Nova, who she described to Newsweek as “such an active listener.”
“I always tell her what’s going on during the day,” she said. “I can tell she’s listening when she tilts her head and has her listening teeth out.
“We call them her listening teeth because she normally shows her teeth when she’s listening hard or excited about something!”
In a video shared to Marielli’s TikTok account, @novathegoldenn in June, Marielli shared what she described as “telling my dog big news”—and sure enough, Nova’s bottom teeth are sticking out in focus.
“Guess what we’re going to do tonight?” Marielli tells her pup, who tilts her head. And the tilt instantly turns into a smile when Marielle reveals “we’re going to go to grandma and grandpa’s house.”
Nova’s expression grows in excitement when Marielli goes on to name other people Nova is going to see that night—and when she hears that they’re going to “eat cheeseburgers” she can’t keep it together, and rushes towards the door to leave, with her owner in peals of laughter.
Marielli told Newsweek she “knew” Nova would have this reaction, “because she absolutely loves visiting her grandparents. She knows the names of everyone in our family and gets so excited when we say them.”
“When we say grandma and grandpa she always runs to the door because she knows it means we’re taking a car ride to see them,” she added.
And, just as importantly, “they also love her and love spoiling her with cheeseburgers and new toys!”
TikTok users loved the video, awarding it more than 40,000 likes, as one laughed: “The sweet little reactions to every bit of news. The burgers were the icing on the cake!”
“I could hear the yay every time you told her something,” another said, while one wrote: “The listening teeth are taking me out.”
And as one summed it up simply: “They are so damn smart.”
Golden retrievers are among the most intelligent large dog breeds, known for their smart, friendly and devoted nature, according to the American Kennel Club (AKC). Their high trainability level and eagerness to please has long made them a popular choice for families, as well as working dogs in search and rescue and guides for the blind.
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