Freeloading pooch pretends to be stray for free burgers

After swiping McDonald’s, the clever pooch got called out on Facebook by her owner.

You know those “Do not feed the animals” signs at zoos? There’s a reason they exist.

An Oklahoma City dog named Princess has been scheming her way into free McDonald’s burgers from unsuspecting customers by pretending to be a stray, and her owner called her out for it.

After Betsey Reyes posted the chewing out of her dog last week, it quickly went viral, being picked up by People magazine and CBS News.

Reyes referred to her dog as a “gold digger” and several other descriptive terms, some of which were technically accurate but go against site policy to repeat.

But seriously, we should be careful about how we approach stray dogs in the future, because, as is the case with Princess, they might not actually be strays, but just normal pups who live in the neighborhood.

Reyes also is concerned that eating too many leftovers from strangers will make Princess overweight or otherwise unhealthy, which is probably something to consider for humans as well.

A 2016 story by The Daily Oklahoman reported that nearly 34 percent of the state’s population is obese, and OKC-based Integris Heart Hospital estimates 67 percent of the state’s population is either obese or overweight.

There is also the element of posting the dog-shaming online – while Princess is only a dog, and not another human, it still feels like it could spread an unhealthy precedent for interactions with random humans online, and online bullying in all forms is already troubling.

So for those reasons, while this is a story that involves a quick laugh, it should also hopefully start to make you think more carefully. Sometimes fast food is necessary – it’s almost always convenient, and makes for a nice treat every once in a while, but you sholdn’t eat it all the time, and neither should your dogs.

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