Call and Bite of Viral Sound (Preview)

A preview for an upcoming commission, featuring some dog TFing! Enjoy!

Recently, Luke had been watching a lot of fun, viral videos that his friends have been recommending. They were of dogs reacting to certain sounds and triggers being played for them, consisting usually of goofy noises to different kinds of sirens.

The reactions were a lot of fun and, after a while, Luke had grown to truly love those simple vids. In fact, after watching so many over the past few days, they had given him an idea.

He had a wonderful dog, one that he loved sharing photos and videos of online to anyone and everyone he could possibly rope in. Why not make Travis even more popular and loved than  he surely already was?

“You're gonna be a star!” Luke said to Travis, stepping back and triple checking the tablet's camera angle. The dog's tail wagged some more, tongue flopping out as he panted. “Everyone is gonna love you! All that attention, views… heh, probably could even monetize the vid! I know it's gonna blow up!”

That was easy enough to do with dog vids, Luke assumed. People did love their good puppers, after all.

It certainly was more pure, honest, and real compared to whatever AI crap was being spewed out on a regular basis those days.

Travis watched his master patiently, panting away with his icy-blue eyes locked onto him. He seemed to be smiling, enjoying the attention and the energy his owner was putting out. He was such a good boy, one destined for stardom!

Luke pleasantly patted him on the head, that tail really wagging now, and pulled out his phone. He checked his downloads, finding all of the sounds and videos still in their little folder. He had downloaded a bunch of popular clips and files that people had done before with their dogs. All the easy, normal, and expected stuff to start his dog off on.

He had also picked up some interesting recommendations from dog websites, Facebook groups, and even a dog man Reddit on other stuff he could play. One of them was a real oddball that sounded like a mixture of multiple police sirens, strung and mixed together with unknown howling. Still, everything he got seemed fine, nothing too crazy or potentially upsetting for Travis.

“Okay… that's everything…” Luke played it out in his head again, lining up what clip was played first and after. “Should be good to go… let's do this!”

With that, he went back over to the tablet and got the camera rolling. He hurried back to his spot near Travis, being close but not too close. He didn't want to be on camera himself after all. He wasn't the star of this video!

After making sure he was mostly off camera, he looked at Travis. Travis still smiled and panted happily. Here we go, buddy!

Luke held the phone up so only it and his hand were visible in the camera's range. He hit play on the first sound and everything proceeded from there.

Things went fine, just about as much as he hoped for. The first few sounds and alarms provided a wonderful range of reactions from Travis. Ears bending back, an odd cocked head, a yip, a bark, and even a mixture of a few. He was just so adorable!

Everyone's gonna love him! Luke internally squealed with delight. He looked at the downloads and found the next sound to place. This was the odd one he found on the Reddit page.

He hit play and soon, that strange mix of sirens and howling belted from his phone. It sounded even weirder coming out of his phone than his computer speakers.

Travis seemed to agree with that. The dog's head cocked, his blue eyes locked onto that phone for the first time. His panting and tail wagging stopped. He stared quietly, appearing confused.

Then, the quiet broke. A long, low growl came from deep within Travis, his teeth beginning to bare. His eyes twitched, ears bending back. He looked mad. VERY mad.

That worried Luke, all his excitement draining in a flash. “You okay, Trav?” Luke spoke as sweetly as possible. The dog's eyes suddenly closed, his growling stopping then. He began to pant again, but that was it. Luke grew more worried.

“…Trav?” The dog did not move or seem to even hear him. Cautiously, Luke reached for him, keeping his hand to the side to stroke his ears.