It can be hard to tell who has more fun a dog racing around a dog park or a child exploring a playground. Both dash from place to place, meet new friends, and sometimes panic a little when they suddenly cant find the person they came with.
A woman visiting a large dog park in New Haven, Connecticut, captured this exact moment while filming her Bernese Mountain Dog, Baloo. Her TikTok caption read, He thought he lost me at the dog park his face when he finds me is my entire reason for existing.
The video opens with Baloo trotting confidently through the park, weaving past dogs and their owners. Then he pauses, glancing around as if thinking, Where did my human disappear to? He turns, scans the area, and seconds later spots his owner, Emma. Instantly, he breaks into a joyful run toward her tail wagging wildly and pace quickening, a perfect example of how dogs show affection.
Posted in August 2025, the clip has collected over 446,000 likes and more than 9,200 comments. One viewer wrote, The pure love in every leap, while another noted, He couldnt reach you fast enough. Its the kind of video that belongs right alongside countless others of dogs bursting with excitement when they see the people they adore.
Why dogs are thrilled to see their humans
While people interact with many others throughout a typical day, some dogs spend nearly all their time with just one or two humans. For them, their owners are their whole world the familiar faces they rely on and the highlight of every day.
A 2015 study from Emory University revealed a scientific explanation behind this joy. Using fMRI technology, researchers found that the temporal lobes of dogs react more strongly to human and dog faces than to objects, indicating a brain region dedicated to face recognition. This suggests that dogs genuinely enjoy social interactions with people. As one researcher told Gizmodo, Dogs love their humans and not just because of food.
In short, dogs are so delighted to see their owners simply because they love them and feel happy in their presence.
If you enjoy stories about Bernese Mountain Dogs, you might also like the tale of a young Bernese puppy whose eyes widened the first time it encountered a much larger dog.
