Laughter As Foster Dog Identifies ‘Weak Link’ in Quest To Get Table Scraps

Animal lovers have declared a woman the “weak link” as a foster dog went straight to her to beg for food from her plate.

Reeya Amin and her partner, Ryan Holmer, who live in Washington, D.C., began fostering dogs this year, and are currently caring for one-year-old bulldog mix, Bunny Hop—aka Bunny.

Bunny was found as a straying puppy by the DC Humane Rescue Alliance in 2024, and while it seemed he had found his forever home not long later, he was tragically returned to the shelter after a few months.

This time at the shelter, his health and behavior “began to rapidly deteriorate,” Amin explained to Newsweek. “The shelter is a highly stressful environment, and Bunny was not responding well to it at all.”

It got to a point where the young dog was scheduled for euthanasia—until “a very special volunteer pulled him out at the last minute as a foster dog,” and he eventually found his way into Amin’s home.

“Since then, we have gotten to know Bunny well as he decompresses and becomes comfortable in our home,” she said. “Ryan and I have learned that Bunny loves all people, playdates with doggy friends, tug of war, long car rides, treats, and snoring through long naps on the couch.”

And, judging by a viral post to her TikTok account @reeyaaminn on July 23, Bunny also loves food—particularly if he thinks he can get it directly from someone’s plate.

In the video, viewed more than 3.7 million times, Amin’s friend Jewel Stevenson sits at the dinner table finishing a meal. And Bunny is right beside her, giving puppy-dog eyes and making noises that clearly say he wants to help her finish her food.

Even as Amin tells Bunny to stop, Stevenson appears to be making puppy-dog eyes of her own, looking pleadingly at everyone around the table, as though asking why he can’t have just a little bit.

Stevenson then tries to ignore him, but then wordlessly turns her head to look at Bunny, pulling a sad face—and Amin has to tell her friend: “Stop looking at him!”

She wrote over the video: “POV: You’re a foster auntie trying [to] learn to say no to your friend’s new foster dog,” and added in the caption: “Bunny Hop’s foster aunties can’t say no to him…and that’s why they’re his favorite.”

Amin told Newsweek that Bunny “immediately began charming my friends” once they arrived at her home for the dinner party—particularly Stevenson, who “considers herself Bunny’s foster auntie and takes her auntie role very seriously,” despite previously being scared of dogs.

“Jewel is head over heels in love with all of our foster dogs and other dogs in her life. She spoils and loves them so unconditionally, and I think the fosters can sense that about her,” she said.

And when it came to the recent dinner, “Bunny, very strategically, sat next to her at dinner and stared and whimpered at her, hoping she would sneak him a treat.”

TikTok users loved the video—both Bunny’s begging attempts and Stevenson’s clear desire to give in and let him get what he wants—awarding it close to 1 million likes in a matter of days.

“He knows who the weak link is,” one commenter wrote, as another described it: “The dog begs her, she begs her friend.”

“She’s so strong for holding off at all,” another said, while one laughed at “how dogs always know which human is the weak link,” and another wrote: “He found the weak link and he’s exploiting her for all she’s worth.”

Amin told Newsweek that Stevenson did not give Bunny food off her plate in the end, “because the food was full of things Bunny was allergic to. But I did let her give him a treat after dinner!”

Reacting to the enormous response to her clip, Amin said she hopes it “brought people some joy and happiness, and we hope that it helps Bunny find his forever family.

“We know that they are out there somewhere, and that he will bring someone so much love.”

Anyone interested in adopting Bunny Hop can check the Humane Rescue Alliance website, or view his PetPlace advert linked on Amin’s TikTok account.

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