It's not a trick. It's an illusion!

July 2, 2018 3:02 PM

#WhatTheFluffChallenge is an adorable Twitter hashtag: humans do a disappearing trick for their pets, mostly dogs. Results are usually amusing and sometimes poignant. Here's a compilation of some of the better ones [overly-chipper sountrack] and here's one on dog logic in general.
posted by Johnny Wallflower (33 comments total)

The disappearing owner dogs are amusing. The disappearing treat dogs just seem devastated. "Why? Why would you make a treat disappear? What alien power is this?"
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:09 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

I really enjoyed this more than I should have. Also, the Pomeranian at the end acted like all this was the conclusion of some evil master plan.
posted by 4ster at 3:12 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]

I did not think I could love dogs more.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:14 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]

We were watching a load of these the other day, I love them! (I can't find my favourite which is basically where the owner fucks the thing up by stubbing their toe off the doorframe and falling over when they try to jump out of sight). The second one on the compilation here is great, where the poodle does a visible double-take and you can almost hear the "Rrrrruuuuuuh?"
posted by billiebee at 3:14 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

Nooooo these only work when we see the end bit when the doggos are reunited with their humans! Otherwise it's sad! :-(
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:18 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]

this is the first one I saw, and is still my fave

these are much better than the teach-trick-to-sibling-and-then-close-door-behind -them-as-they-try version
posted by thelonius at 3:23 PM on July 2, 2018

They don’t tell you that 85% of these dogs later report dreams where everyone is Raptured but them, and they wander Through blighted landscapes, disconsolate in the knowledge that they are Bad Dogs.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:28 PM on July 2, 2018 [31 favorites]

I will never grow tired of these!

But I truly hope the next wave involves people performing the trick for gorillas, chimps, or orangs at the zoo.
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:33 PM on July 2, 2018

Bamboozled again
posted by bradbane at 3:34 PM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

I do this with my dog every day, except for it is with a ball. He literally never gets tired of it and always reacts with shock when the ball disappears. If I do it right, he will run in circles around the house looking for it for several minutes.
posted by mwhybark at 3:35 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

The poignant one with the cat is surprising. I had expected kitteh to be more or less unperturbed, given their notorious indifference, but this one seems to have become rather alarmed. I wanted to give it a treat at the end of that video.
posted by darkstar at 3:41 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

I had expected kitteh to be more or less unperturbed, given their notorious indifference

The cat is just furious as this is a feline power that the lowly hu-man should not possess.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:42 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]

I would have loved to try this with my late Cocker Spaniel, who was a special combination of anxious and not very bright, such that if you went to another room for very long he wouldn't chill, or go looking for you - he would just start howling in despair.

I kind of suspect most of the dogs know that their people haven't really disappeared, and are just getting hyped up on this mysterious new "throw-a-towel-and-then-run-away" game - mostly because they should be able to still smell their people - but I could be wrong. (Not at all to take anything away from these videos, which are fun and charming).
posted by Jeanne at 3:49 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

We recreated this, but with puppets! Much easier to fool puppet dogs.
posted by xingcat at 3:49 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

My apartment is too small to have a good spot for this so I’ve been plotting to find a way to make it work for days. What an absurd problem to have.
posted by mosst at 4:09 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]

I tried this with my Jack Russell, Rooney, and I literally couldn't get him to look at the person and the blanket long enough to disappear. He was like, what, you want me to look in the kitchen on the floor at the door on the couch in this closet under this chair what what what!?
posted by headspace at 4:28 PM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

My last dog never really got object permanence. If we did this she would have been like, “huh. Hooman no long exists. I guess I’ll take a nap.“
posted by rockindata at 5:13 PM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

My Aussies were way too smart to fall for this. They chased my daughter down and were all like "What new game is this? What's with the blanket?"
posted by zakur at 5:17 PM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

rockindata, does your dog have a sibling?
posted by Fig at 5:21 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

My husbands in bed and I don't trust myself to try this without cackling obnoxiously, so... Tomorrow!
posted by Fig at 5:23 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Hah! I love the cat. I've long held that cats are fascinated by object permanence. The best way to get a cat to come over to you is to get his attention and then hide something. They always have to investigate. So it makes sense that the cat would freak out like that.
posted by es_de_bah at 5:52 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]

"It's just a pineapple" my ass, hooman!
posted by memewit at 7:36 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

I did this to my seven-month-old grandson with a shaker egg (rattle). The first time i opened my had to show him the egg had disappeared he was nonplussed. The second time he shrieked in frustration and started crying, but stopped when I immediately handed him the egg.

I am a terrible grandfather.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:31 PM on July 2, 2018 [17 favorites]

On the dog logic front, this video cycles through Twitter every few weeks & I laugh every time. Sadie is jealous!
posted by scalefree at 9:37 PM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

There’s a few YouTube videos out there of magicians performing sleight-of-hand tricks for primates like orangutans and baboons. Orangutans apparently find this stuff hilarious whereas for baboons it is deepest sorcery.
posted by um at 11:29 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

This is so great! I'm not on the Twittersphere so I likely would not have known about it. Thank you so much, this totally made my day!
posted by bologna on wry at 2:30 AM on July 3, 2018

Also, many cats have this thing where they don't like to be observed from hiding, and I think this may be why the vanishing trick spooks them. The logic goes:

• Cat can see all of you; you can see all of cat: OK
• Cat can see all of you; you can only see part of cat: OK
• Cat can see only part of you; you can see all of cat: NO. BAD. UNACCEPTABLE.

posted by um at 4:51 AM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]

I love dogs so much.
posted by Sophie1 at 9:16 AM on July 3, 2018

Orangutans apparently find this stuff hilarious whereas for baboons it is deepest sorcery.

Huh. Orangs are great apes, whereas baboons are Old World monkeys. I wonder if there's a connection? I need a research grant!
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:17 PM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

The other day I saw that Cole and Marmalade had jumped onto this bandwagon.
posted by radwolf76 at 10:58 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

Herr Vortex and I tried this out on our dog Lucy. Her reaction: "Oh...he's gone forever now, I guess. I R Sad Dog." She just kind of gazed towards the floor and sighed. Then he popped back out and she went "Oh good!" and ran up to him.

She is a bit stressed out right now due to Doggie Torture Day (4th of July, and preceding/following days in the neighborhood) so we'll try the illusion again later when she's not teetering on the edge of collapse from fireworks fear. I'm sure she's forgotten all about the "Joe Disappeared!" thing.
posted by Elly Vortex at 9:15 AM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

Cockatoo Panics When Owner Disappears

A guy in Romania pulled the same disappearing act in front of his cockatoo. This is one pet that can vocalize his dismay!

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:33 PM on July 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

What The Fluff Challenge with a twist
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:40 PM on July 21, 2018 [1 favorite]