A golden retriever with a white duck resting on its back, indoors. 2:54
Beastly channel icon BeastlyOriginal creator 4.2M views Save

Beware the duck who loves a golden retriever

When the ducks first arrived, Barclay the golden retriever didn't care about them at all. Then he found out they had food, and that their food was delicious. more

Pam, who owns them both, keeps a lively mix of pets at her home in Orange County, California. Barclay, she says, loves stealing the ducks' food. In fact, he just loves food. "He stole my lunch earlier."

One of those ducks, a white Pekin named Rudy, wasn't having it. He stood his ground, and he still has a lot to say to Barclay. In one favorite moment, Rudy quacks at his big friend so hard that a feather or two comes loose, while Barclay sits through it with the face of a dog who knows how this goes.

A white duck with an orange beak stands beside a fluffy brown dog on a dark wooden floor. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Rudy stands his ground right beside Barclay on the wooden floor.

A commenter points out that golden retrievers were bred to fetch ducks. Barclay seems to have skipped that lesson. Somewhere between the stolen food and the standoff, the two worked things out, and now they're hardly ever apart.

Pam has a plain way of describing what each one gets out of it. Barclay loves sniffing Rudy's back end, and Rudy likes to climb onto Barclay's back and settle in. "It's a symbiotic relationship," she says. Barclay, for his part, also drinks Rudy's bathwater.

A golden retriever with a white duck resting on its back, indoors. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
When the ducks first arrived, Barclay the golden retriever didn't care about them at all.

Rudy is the alpha duck, Pam says, and the family's official toe biter. There's even a sign at the house that reads "Beware of attack duck." The other ducks know Barclay is Rudy's best friend, and anyone else who gets too close had better watch out.

Pam's other dog, Izzy, gets no such kindness. Izzy stalked the ducks when they were babies. Now the ducks are bigger than Izzy, and as Pam puts it, payback is sweet if you're a duck.

A white duck with an orange beak and feet stands on a wooden floor, looking down at a bone-shaped treat. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
A duck stands guard over a bone-shaped dog treat.

She thinks she knows why Rudy and Barclay need each other so much. "They are like the oddballs on the playground," she says. "No one else will play with them. So, lucky for them, they found each other."

#goldenretriever#bestfriends