It's not everyday you meet a German Shepherd that walks through doors backwards, but there's actually a very good reason why. As a young pup, this poor pooch accidentally ran through a glass door. Since then, he's figured a way of avoiding another painful mishap by pulling off a special move whenever he gets close to a doorway.
Rather than enter a room headfirst, the German Shepherd pauses, ensures there is enough room to turn around, and begins to walk slowly backwards. That way, the dog makes sure he doesn't bash his face into any glass. Once clear of the potential obstacle, he turns round again and picks up speed.
good_boy_ran_through_a_glass_door_when_he_was from r/MadeMeSmile
Footage of the pup's unique way of navigating doorways was posted on Reddit, with one commentator saying it looked like the dog was twerking his way into the room. Another commentator compared the dog's move to pop star Michael Jackson's moonwalk, with lots of others commending the pooch for his great ability to learn.
Then again, German Shepherds are among the smartest dog breeds – canine psychology Stanley Coren ranks them third for intelligence, noting the breed doesn't need many repetitions to learn something new. In this case, that's a very good thing indeed but it's still a good idea to take preventative measures if you have glass doors, perhaps by ordering replacements or frosting the glass to make them more noticeable.
Why? Well, it's rather common for dogs to walk into glass doors and some pooches never learn, bashing their heads over and over again. Others end up simply refusing to go through a doorway at all and they often only do so again following a lot of coaxing.
What's more, it doesn't need us to point out that walking into a glass door is also dangerous. Aside from the risk of being cut by shattered glass, dogs risk head injuries and brain swelling so always look out for signs of disorientation, bleeding, unequal-sized pupils and seizures.
