Dog’s tactic to distract owner trying to work from home delights internet

This woman doesn’t need to look at the time to know when she’s due to finish work, as her persistent Australian shepherd, Nick, will get in the way—until she finally gives in and stops working.

When Madeline Rigoni works from home, she’s able to remain productive and tick off everything on her checklist—until it hits 5 pm and her dog has had enough. Towards the end of Rigoni’s work day, Nick will be sure to interfere with her work until she puts her laptop away.

Posting a video on her TikTok account, @madabout____, the New York City native gave viewers a glimpse of what she’s dealing with whenever her pooch wants her to finish work. While Rigoni had the laptop perched on her lap, Nick takes it upon himself to tap at the keys and swipe his paw across the screen, until his owner pays attention to him.

This comes after a survey by Banfield Pet Hospital in 2021 found that 1 in 3 people got a new pet during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now 28 percent of owners think their pet can provide the calm they need during the stress of work.

There were also 23 percent who believe having their dog by their side while they work can make them more productive—although it’s uncertain if Rigoni would say the same about Nick.

The video was an instant hit, amassing more than 1.5 million views since it was posted on February 17, as thousands of people admired Nick’s determination.

Since sharing the video on TikTok, Rigoni has spoken to Newsweek about her dog’s cheeky antics. She admits he was done with watching her work and he was due some playtime.

She said: “I work from home and it was 5 pm on a Friday, so I was just working from the couch. Nick was not happy about that, and he wanted to tell me I needed to stop working and get ready to enjoy the weekend.

“Nick is a rescue from Social Tees NYC, and when I fostered him his name was Mr. Right. While I knew I couldn’t keep that name for him, it turns out that he was Mr. Right for me.

“He wanted me to put work away and play with him. It was time for the weekend to start and he knew it. But, as he’s a working breed, he might have also been suggesting it was time for me to put him to work with a game of fetch.”

When Nick started interrupting her work, Rigoni could only laugh because he does this very regularly, and he was bound to win the argument. But she certainly wasn’t expecting quite so much attention to be generated by the video online.

She continued: “I’ve never gone viral and I definitely wasn’t expecting a video of Nick to go viral so quickly. It’s been really fun! I’ve learned how much people love dogs, which I already sort of knew!

“The Australian shepherd community is very tight and the people are hilarious. I’ve had a lot of laughs from the comments people left.”

With over 216,000 likes and thousands of comments on the video, the canine has been applauded by TikTok users for ensuring Rigoni doesn’t work a minute later than she’s supposed to.

One user commented: “Administrative assistant of the year,” and another person joked: “He knows exactly what he’s doing.”

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.