A determined dog in the U.K. has captured the internet’s heart, after a video showed him attempting to retrieve a buoy in a lake he believed was a floating ball.
Kathrine Jensen, 31, from Wales, shared the video of her 6-year-old English cream golden retriever, Bailey, on Instagram, where it has already racked up more than 497,000 views.
The clip showed Bailey proudly gripping a bright red buoy far out in the water—despite his owner’s attempt to persuade him to return to shore.
According to Jensen, the mix-up began after Bailey had spent time happily fetching his own ball in the sea.
“On this specific day, he had been playing with his ball in the sea for a while when he suddenly decided he would rather go retrieve the ‘big, red ball’ he could see further out,” Jensen told Newsweek. “Unfortunately for him, what he thought was a big, red ball was a buoy and was in fact not retrievable.”
What started as a funny moment quickly became worrying as Bailey refused to let go of the buoy despite repeated calls from shore.
The moment initially occurred in May 2022 while the family was staying at their caravan in Anglesey, where Bailey swam in the bays nearly every day. The hilarious clip was then posted to Instagram this September, with its virality proving it’s just as funny now as it was at the time.
Golden retrievers were developed in the mid-19th century in another part of the U.K., Scotland, and were designed to work alongside hunters and retriever game birds from both land and water.
The strong drive to fetch was an essential part of the breed’s creation, and something that is still a big part of the golden retriever’s nature today.
“At first, we thought it was funny to see how determined he was,” Jensen said. “But we got more and more worried the more we tried to call him back… He was exhausted and struggled to breathe.”
Efforts to distract him—including throwing his real ball into the water—failed. Finally, Jensen’s partner waded fully clothed into the sea to rescue their stubborn retriever.
“My partner was not particularly happy about being soaked,” she laughed, “but Bailey seemed very proud of himself and was very, very tired afterwards.”
Bailey has attempted the same stunt once since, prompting the family to avoid beaches with too many buoys. But because Bailey recovered quickly—and because the moment perfectly captured his determined personality—Jensen decided to share the video for a laugh.
“People’s comments to the video were hilarious,” she said. “Especially the comments saying, ‘He’s a good buoy.’”
Viewers flooded the post with reactions and praise for Bailey’s enthusiasm for fetch.
“Is it round. Then it’s fair game. Buzz off,” joked one commenter. While another said: “This just made my day.”
“Omg amazing,” laughed another viewer.
Bailey may not have retrieved the buoy, but he’s certainly earned the title of Instagram’s favorite “good buoy.”