Golden Retriever Sets Fur on Fire at 16th Birthday Party

A dog owner revealed what happened behind the scenes in her senior dog’s birthday clip, and the hilarious footage immediately went viral on social media.

The TikTok video, shared November 16 by @happy_golden08, shows the golden retriever, Happy, posing in front of a cake for his 16th birthday when he unexpectedly starts walking toward the camera and accidentally burns part of his fur by getting too close to the candle.

“What you didn’t see,” reads layover text on the clip. A caption says: “I thought he’d stop like last year.”

The poster, 45-year-old Sarah Ciacia of Melbourne, Australia, told Newsweek that while Happy’s fur was slightly affected in the accident, the pup was totally fine.

“Happy is my golden retriever and I’ve had him since he was 5 weeks. I wrongly judged that he would stop short of the cake and the candle flames like he did last time, but instead he plowed straight into it, trying to get to me,” she said.

“This blooper video went viral before the edited one did, which now has more views. Unfortunately, Happy’s fur did get singed and his leg got covered in icing, but other than that he remained unscathed,” she said.

Thankfully, Happy was unharmed, and his owner immediately moved him away from the candles to safety.

However, if your pet gets close enough to fire that its skin gets burned, don’t panic. Assess the wound to establish whether you need an emergency vet visit, and give the dog first aid promptly.

The website Bond Vet says that the medical attention is usually needed if a dog has suffered deep injuries or ones that penetrate the skin; when it has bleeding that won’t stop; when it is stressed or struggling; in case of deep puncture wounds, especially in the chest or abdominal area; and when it has injuries covering a large area of the body.

Signs of infection include redness, swelling, excessive pain, red streaking in the skin, pus or excessive drainage, bad odors and discoloration. Look for clues that your dog is ill or in great pain: limping, lethargy, fever, excessive crying or whining. These all need immediate veterinary attention.

A Dogster article says that when a pup suffers a burn it should be immediately removed from the source, and it may need to be muzzled if agitated.

Unless your dog is badly hurt, you should run cool water over the burned area for about 20 minutes immediately after the incident to help limit the damage from the burn. If the pup suffers from anything more than a very tiny thermal burn, it will need pain relief or antibiotics, which can be prescribed by your veterinarian.

The video quickly went viral and has so far received over 198,000 views and 18,500 likes.

One user, Dawn Friebe, commented: “Oh my days my heart was in my mouth thought his fur was going to catch fire !!! phew. Beautiful.”

Julia wrote: “Haha my labrador nearly ate his 16th [birthday] candle! he made it to fabulous 18 years and 8 months.”

User8269147535007 said: “Hope he’s ok. Happy Birthday.”

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.