Oscar is a 14-year-old rescued terrier mix living in Dublin, Ireland, who has charmed the neighbors he regularly visits for a special treat, and a guest relative from America has told Newsweek how she too fell under the dog’s spell.
When Elizabeth Gerrity, 31, from Boston, flew to Ireland to visit her aunt Liz, she went to check out the sweet tradition—only to find Oscar politely waiting at the front door to show his gratitude.
She caught the moment on video and shared it to her TikTok account @elizabethandarchie, where it has gone viral with over 203,000 likes since being shared on August 29.
As she put it to Newsweek: “I’m not surprised that everyone loves Oscar so much. Who doesn’t love a senior dog? I’m thrilled that Oscar’s owner gets to see the world responding so kindly to his dog!”
The video shows Gerrity opening the front door to find the small, well cared for dog staring up at her, with a dog treat on the step beside him. As Gerrity greets him in a gentle voice, he waits for her to give him a pat before picking up the treat and trotting off down the driveway, back to his home next door.
She wrote over the video: “My aunt’s neighbor’s dog comes over every day for a treat and wanted to say thank you,” adding in a caption: “Oscar was polite enough to give a proper thank you before heading out.”
Speaking to Newsweek, Gerrity explained she and her husband had landed in Ireland to visit her aunt Liz and arrived “completely jet-lagged” to find Oscar “politely shaking down my aunt for his daily treat.”
“He greeted us, got his treat, and then made his way back to his house next door,” she said, and she was determined to see it for herself the next day. But when she overheard her aunt speaking to Oscar, she thought she had missed it.
“I ran downstairs to try and see if he was still there, because he was just so cute and I wanted to say hi to him again. I started recording before I opened the door, just in case he was still there.”
Her aunt Liz, meanwhile, told Newsweek the tradition started about a year ago, when she noticed her neighbor Jim’s dog was being invited into another house for treats.
“My partner Mike and I were always fond of Oscar and with Jim’s permission, we started to give him the odd dog treat to stay in Oscar’s good books,” she joked.
Liz added that the “cheeky character” will sometimes “bark, perform a downward dog stretch or bat his eyelashes” to beg for a treat, but admitted they don’t need much convincing to hand over food to the elderly pup.
“Some evenings and on weekends, if Oscar’s not with Jim he can be found with our other neighbors sharing a meal,” she said. “Even though Jim keeps plenty of dog treats available, Oscar’s a social gent who never misses a chance to visit his neighbors.”
TikTok users adored the video, with one commenter demanding, in all-caps, “MORE OSCAR CONTENT ASAP.”
“I need daily videos please,” another said, with one writing: “The slow walk away took me out.”
And as one put it: “Oscar said ‘sorry no time to chat just swinging by!’”
Gerrity, who also posts to Instagram under the handle @archiethebostoncav, shared the video after her trip to Ireland and “realized pretty quickly that Oscar was getting a lot of love and attention.”
“Once the video cracked 10,000 likes, I had a feeling it would continue to grow, but none of us expected it to get to over 100,000 likes!”
She added of Jim, Oscar’s owner: “Oscar already brings joy to the neighborhood every day, but it must feel good to know that he’s also brought joy to so many people online.”
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