Golden Retriever Decides Burglar’s A Friend, Tries To Play With Him (VIDEO)

Guard dog? That wasn’t in the job description!

No one will ever accuse Nash of being a great guard dog.

The golden retriever made headlines this week after security cameras showed the friendly pup responded to a home intruder by grabbing a chew toy and, tail wagging excitedly, trying to make friends with the man.

Dante Rowley was on a trip when he received an alert from his home security system in San Diego that someone had entered his home. As he tapped into the secure feed, he and his fiance watched from Chicago as Nash cautiously observed the intruder ingress through a second-floor window, then decided the man was there to play with him.

The man quickly made himself at home, taking off his shirt and shoes before opening the fridge and helping himself to its contents. He even belched in satisfaction before sitting down to eat another snack, apparently a small carton of yogurt.

Rowley alerted police and San Diego officers arrived within minutes, but the footage shows that even as the intruder began to take nervous glances through the front windows, Nash kept trying to play with him, bringing him a variety of toys.

Nash wasn’t done making friends. When the police entered through the front door, the amicable pooch greeted them enthusiastically as well, and tried to enlist the officers in some fun and games.

“Nash,” Rowley admitted, “is the worst guard dog.”

“Usually, when he sees new people, he runs over and jumps all over them and is just on them 24-7,” he told the New York Times.

Dogs like Nash don’t “do a background check” before deciding to play with people, Cornell veterinary professor Katherine Houpt told the newspaper.

“The dog wanted someone to play with, and the burglar is as good as anyone,” she said. “It’s a breed that’s often friendly and, apparently, the owners made sure he was socialized with people. So he doesn’t think something awful is going to come in the door, but something fun, a playmate.”

Buddy the Cat reviewed the footage after he was asked to share his expert opinion and sniffed derisively as he watched Nash attempting to make friends with the intruder.

“Useless mutt!” the imperious gray tabby said. “Look at him! I’d be like ‘Listen, burglar man, I’m a tiger and I’m gonna, like, maul you and stuff if you don’t get outta my domicile immediately!’ Then obviously he would be really scared and would run because I’m intimidating and meowscular.”

The suspect, John Cline, 57, was arrested and charged with first-degree burglary, a felony. It wasn’t immediately clear if he’d retained an attorney.

A golden retriever dog with a happy expression, standing on grass.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Header image credit: Pexels

Home Inspector Freaked Out By Large Maine Coon [VIDEO]

The surprised home inspector made a phone call from inside the owner’s living room, reporting “an intimidatingly large cat.”

Home camera footage shows a housing inspector who enters a family’s living room and stops dead in his tracks because he sees…a Maine Coon?!

The inspector was concerned enough that he phoned back to the office to report an “intimidatingly large cat.”

“I’m doing a home inspection now and, like, there’s this cat here, and it’s a very large size cat,” he tells the person on the other end of the line. “You know how you see a cat and they have a cute face? This cat is like… I might eat you later.”

What’d he think it was, a lynx?

Of course we get this sort of thing all the time here at Casa de Buddy. Oftentimes people will hear Little Buddy’s terrifying roar and cast an uncertain glance my way.

“Dude, you got Elmo locked in a room or something?”

Followed inevitably by Bud’s indignant reply.

“I do NOT sound like Elmo! I’m a tiger, I just haven’t hit my growth spurt yet.”

So there you have it. Weird things can happen when you have a huge cat in your home…or one who sounds like Elmo.

Point-Counterpoint: ‘I Am An Apex Predator!’ Vs ‘OMG, What Was That Noise?!? Go Check It Out, Human!’

Buddy the Cat asserts he is a powerful apex predator who fears no man or beast, while Buddy the Cat runs and hides the moment there’s an unfamiliar sound in his domicile.

I Am An Apex Predator!

Behold! I have the gait of a lion, the bite force of a tiger, the stealth of a jaguar, and the relentlessness of a leopard!

My meowscles ripple meowscularly as I stalk my prey by moonlight! One second all looks safe and calm, and the next I’m leaping from cover in a burst of feline power to ambush my unfortunate prey!

Lesser creatures have nightmares about me. Indigenous cultures celebrate my legend in oral traditions. Craftsmen carve bas reliefs illustrating my mastery over all beasts. Shamans invoke my speed and strength. My toys quake at the mere mention of my name!

I am Buddy, and I am a ferocious cat! RAWRRR!!!

‘OMG, What Was That Noise?!? Go Check It Out, Human!’

Holy crap, dude! What the heck was that?

I’m just gonna run and hide under the bed while you investigate that awful, terrifying noise! No, YOU check it out. Are you crazy? I’m not going anywhere near there! What if it’s, like, a serial killer or a chalupacabra?

Where’s it coming from? The kitchen? The bathroom? Oh God! I told you, there are monsters living in the toilet and they can emerge at any second to murder us in our naps! We should have nailed the toilet seat down years ago! You didn’t listen to me, so you’re gonna have to fend off the monsters while I lend you moral support from three rooms away.

What? Duuuude.

Was it really your smartphone alarm on vibrate? Whew! For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble.

Now I’m gonna need you to rub my head while I sit in your lap and you tell me what a good, brave boy I am. If it really had been monsters, they would have gotten their butts kicked by me. I was brave, wasn’t I?

If you slander me by claiming I freaked out and ran to hide under the bed, I will be forced to accuse you of peddling fake news!

Point-Counterpoint presents two essays taking opposing positions on a topic. Join us again next week, when Buddy the Cat will debate Buddy the Cat on another important topic.

Amazing Cats: Dwelling In Dense Jungles, Margays Are Tricksters and Champion Climbers

Strongly resembling ocelot cubs, margays have a unique biological adaptation to tree-climbing and a devious ability that gives them a massive advantage over their prey.

Taxonomic name: Leopardus wiedii
Genus: Felis (small cats)
Weight: Between 5 to 9 pounds with typical felid sexual dimorphism
Lifespan: More than 20 years in captivity
Gestation: About 80 days
Litter size: Single kitten, rarely more than one
Distribution: Central America, including Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Colombia, Panama and parts of Mexico
IUCN Red List Status: Near threatened

If you’re fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of a margay, you might think you’re looking at an ocelot cub.

The two species look remarkably similar, sharing beautiful rosette patterns in their fur, intense eyes and prominent facial stripes.

But ocelots are medium-size cats that can top out at 35 or 40 pounds, while margays are even smaller than domestic felines, weighing between five to nine pounds.

An ocelot cub with, left, with its mother. Margays are easily mistaken for ocelot kittens. Credit: Mark Dumont via Wikimedia Commons

Living in jungles teeming with life, margays have a distinct advantage that allows them to escape land-based predators while making them a threat to monkeys and other critters living in the branches — they are outstanding climbers with unique biological adaptations that allow them to do things other cats cannot.

Credit: Supreet Sahoo via Wikimedia Commons

The most dramatic example is their ankle joints, which allow them to rotate 180 degrees as the little spotted cats anchor themselves to trunks and branches. As a result, margays don’t just climb with speed and ease, they are capable of swiftly evacuating trees by climbing down head-first like squirrels.

Other cat species lack that adaptation, which is one reason why we often hear about domestic cats who find themselves uncomfortably high up in trees or on utility poles, refusing to come down for days despite hunger and coaxing by humans trying to help.

A margay demonstrating its ability to climb head-first down a tree thanks to its unique ankle joints. Credit: James Kaiser

Margays are outstanding jumpers in addition to their unrivaled climbing ability, able to leap six to eight times their own height. It’s easy to see how these diminutive cats can intercept birds and monkeys far above the jungle floor in addition to hunting terrestrial mammals.

Indeed, using their large tails as a counterbalance, margays traverse branches with a swiftness and sure-footedness that rivals the gibbon.

The jungle’s tricksters

They’re also remarkably clever. Scientists have documented margays mimicking the vocalizations of monkeys, their favorite prey. In one documented example, a margay imitated the call of a baby tamarin, then ambushed the adult tamarins who approached to investigate the sound.

That’s a surprising adaptation for a cat species, and we should be thankful they’re tiny. The thought of tigers or leopards with that ability is terrifying.

Margays are solitary and due to their size, they’re both predator and prey. Because of that, these tiny cats spend the majority of their time well above ground level and are usually found deep in old growth jungles where they can blend into dense vegetation, hiding among leaves and branches, where their coat patterns help them blend in.

Like all wildcats, margays face increasing pressure from habitat loss, poaching and other threats, and they’re classified as near-threatened on the IUCN Red List.

Credit: Anderson Cristiano Hendgen via Wikimedia
Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Header image credit Clément Bardot via Wikimedia Commons

Copyright 2026 – Pain In The Bud – May not be reproduced without permission

Previously:

Amazing Cats: The Mysterious Marbled Cat
Amazing Cats: The Rusty-Spotted Cat
Amazing Cats: ‘He Who Kills With One Bound’
Amazing Cats: The Puma

Amazing Cats: The Sunda Clouded Leopard

Amazing Cats: The Adorable Colocolo, Feline of the Pampas

Amazing Cats: The ‘Fire Tiger’ Is The Stuff Of Legend

Amazing Cats: Ocelots Love Trees, Water And Calvin Klein’s Obsession For Men

Amazing Cats: Pallas Cats Are The Grumpy Little Hobbits Of The Feline World

Amazing Cats: The Jaguarundi Is Adept, Adaptable And Mysterious

Beware Of Cat!

Want to dissuade criminals from targeting your home but can’t afford a fancy security system? A warning sign featuring Buddy’s terrifying visage will do!

Times are tough, everyone’s feeling the squeeze, and criminals are more motivated than ever to target homes that may have valuables in them.

That’s why Buddy, in the spirit of altruism (and the guarantee of extra turkey) agreed to lend his fierce likeness to the below poster. According to the Buddinese Center For Criminal Justice, homeowners who display this “BEWARE OF CAT” sign are 99% less likely to be the victims of home robbery or burglary, as criminals will simply move on to a home that isn’t protected by an intimidating, extremely ripped feline:

Alternate version with even more intimidating image of feline protector: