Or is it one of the best pieces of dog-human performance art?

While a pet will almost certainly add to your quality of life, most owners will go out of their way to help make their time together extra special. Often this involves teaching your pet tricks which you can then show off to your friends to prove how amazing your furry friend is. For those who have never had a pet, the process of teaching a new trick is a pretty simple one. You offer your pet a ton of treats while desperately attempting to direct their attention to what you want them to do. Most of the time it will work out in the end because treats are delicious and the animals want them. But sometimes, even after all the hard work, a trick doesn’t always happen perfectly as planned, leading to some embarrassing moments captured on video…or instant Internet stardom on Twitter.

You can tell this lovely pooch is so earnestly trying to please their master by performing the trick, but doesn’t seem to realize what is so hilarious about what they’ve done. Owner @l_rock1014 knows exactly what they have on their hands, but probably didn’t know it would be shared over 170,000 times and received over 250,000 likes. Just to show that their dog has the ability to pull off the “shake” trick, @l_rock1014 also posted a follow-up video.

See! Who’s a good doggy? All it takes is a whole lot of encouragement, some ear scratches, and (likely) a whole bunch of treats! The real question is, can @l_rock1014’s dog also pull off the missed connection trick on command? The two seem to have the “shake” command mastered, so this daring duo may want to look at these animals for inspiration for their next round of tricks. 

Source/images: Twitter/@l_rock1014