This dog in Japan was startled by this strange looking Google Maps car and gave chase.
Usually, Google will blur out people’s faces in Google Maps for their privacy, but animals seem to be fair game. According to this Twitter user in Japan earlier last week (Apr. 4,2018) while browsing Google Maps on street view, he came across this very persistent dog who followed the Google maps car as it traveled down the end of this seaside street. You can experience this dog give chase by clicking the navigation arrows in Google Maps below.
If you go back one navigational arrow in the embedded image above, you can see the first moment that the dog encounters the Google Maps car. With this road being a dead end, presumably, not many cars head down this way. This dog is probably well aware of what kind of cars and people traverse his territory. Then again, this is a very dog-like behavior chasing things, so I’m not all that surprised.
What really makes this dog that much more lovable to the internet is his expressions. Check out some of the expressions he gives while the Google car drives along. They’re the best.
種子島をストリートビューで見てたら放し飼いのイッヌにgoogleカー追いかけられてたの見つけた pic.twitter.com/6MIES5YWwg
— サカウヱ (@sakasakaykhm) April 4, 2018
As it’s a dead end, the Google Maps Car has to turn around, in which case, those images aren’t part of the Google Maps interface. At that point, the dog probably overtook the Google Maps car before returning to his spot near that boat.
Dogs are a territorial breed and will give chase to just about anything that moves. Thankfully, this dog seems to be of the playful type as far as I can tell from these photos. It isn’t gritting its teeth and its tail seems to be waving to and fro as it gives pursuit.
Since the original tweet went out, it’s been retweeted over 100,000 times and liked more than 250,000 times. If this dog only knew how popular on the internet it’s become.
I wonder if you venture out to that part of Japan if that dog’s still there, waiting to give chase?
