It was the first time Maverick saw the black cats decorating his south Texas yard.
TEXAS, USA — A south Texas dog went catatonic when he saw some black cat decorations in his front yard.
There’s video of him just staring at them, completely still.
He may look like a decorative dog standing amid five Halloween decoration cats, but he is real, a Lab by the name of Maverick.
“He was just like frozen. I mean, it’s like somebody just like froze him in place,” said Adam Flores.
Maverick’s owner says it was the first time the dog saw the cats, and he stopped in his tracks.
Adam, his wife, and even his 5-year old daughter cracked up at the sight.
“It looks like you paused him,” commented one Tik Toker.
“I think your dog is broken,” another joked. “To do a hard reset, refer to owners manual.”
It was as if Maverick was trapped in that old Gloria Gaynor song, “First I was afraid I was petrified.”
And only after more than a minute of paralysis did Adam manage to break the spell.
“Hey, it’s OK, dude.”
His catatonic tail woke up first.
Someone pointed out, “Lab thinks he’s a Pointer!”
So we showed the video to Justin McGill who breeds Pointing Labs at Hunters Point Kennel in Iowa.
“Was Maverick pointing or was he petrified?”
“Oh no, hell, he was pointing,” said McGill. “He wasn’t scared. His body language, his tail was medium. He wasn’t tucked between his legs. He didn’t have any control over that. That’s just total instinct, He walked out the door, saw that, and locked up.”
Unlike an English Pointer, Labs are not known as pretty Pointers when they spot prey.
“Oh yeah it’s ugly as hell,” said McGill.
The point is, don’t call Maverick a scaredy cat.
In case you’re wondering, Maverick has seen a cat before.
The family has a cat that lives in the house with him.
Go figure.