"I've never heard of that behavior before ..."
On the surface, this little pup named Katie might look like just any other dog — but truth is, Katie’s not your average pet.
She’s taught herself a skill that makes her more akin to a superhero.
It all began one day about five years ago, when Katie was at home with her owner, Michelle. After rolling around on the carpet for a while, just for fun, Katie casually approached Michelle's foot for a sniff.
And in that instant — ZAP!
A small spark of energy, built up through the friction of rolling around, had suddenly bolted from Katie’s nose to Michelle’s toe.
“Katie taught herself the basic workings of static electricity,” Michelle told The Dodo.
After that first instance, Katie’s tail began to wag. Though the zap was jarring, she seemed to love it. This led to more rolling around. And many more zaps.
“She got better at building charges,” Michelle said. “The zaps became more noticeable to the point where you could hear the static cracking in her fur before she zapped you. It became pretty obvious it was intentional.”
Here’s footage of Katie practicing her superpower on the metal edge of Michelle’s bed:
Years later, Katie’s zaps are just part of daily life for Michelle and her family.
“She’ll just casually walk up to us and greet us with a zap — whatever charge she’s recently built up,” Michelle said. “We'll usually thank her: ‘Thanks for the zap, Katie. Very much appreciated.’”
Michelle is pretty sure that Katie believes everyone enjoys getting zapped, though her special power has had some drawbacks. Once, her zap caused Michelle’s laptop to start acting wonky. And then there was the time that Katie’s zap broke an e-reader.
“We now do our best to keep the newer, more expensive electronics out of zapping range from her,” Michelle said.
Just to be sure that Katie’s love of wielding electricity wasn’t problematic or indicative of some unhealthy compulsion, Michelle let her vet know about what she’d been up to. She also shared video of Katie’s zaps.
Rather than be concerned, the vet found it hilarious:
Katie got the OK to zap, zap away.
And she has.
The incredible little dog continues to zap Michelle and her family multiple times a day, on the regular. It’s something they’ve come to expect and, in some ways, appreciate as a gesture of love.
“She seems to honestly enjoy the sensations. In fact, the bigger the zap, the faster her tail wags, and she'll run off to try build a bigger charge in those cases,” Michelle said. “She seems to think the zaps brings us as much happiness as it does her, so we're typically happy to oblige and give her a head scritch. Dogs are so precious, each one filled with their own special quirks.”
