The video, shared on TikTok on Sunday by his owner under the username Adriabarich,, showed the Golden Retriever being lectured by his mom about what is an orange fetch ball and what’s just an orange, before being challenged to fetch the ball from the pool.

The owner can be heard saying: “Oatmeal keeps thinking that these oranges are his ball. I don’t blame him, they look very similar. They’re both the same shade of gray.” He then throws the ball at the pool, before saying: “Go get it. Don’t be a weenie, go get it.”

It is a common misconception that dogs only see in black and white. In reality, they just perceive colors in a different way. According to VCA Animal Hospitals, a dog’s normal vision is similar to that of a human with red-green color blindness.

“The color red appears dark brownish-gray or black to a dog. And yellow, orange, and green all look a bit yellowish to a dog. Our furry friends see blue really well, but purple looks the same as blue to them.”

The animal hospital’s website explained that when playing a game of fetch, your dog can’t tell the difference between a red ball and a yellow ball, but because of his great sense of smell, he’ll usually be able to identify the right ball and avoid mix-ups.

Oatmeal decided to fetch the ball from the pool the smart way, using his pool float to reach the ball more quickly. His owner can be heard saying: “You’re gonna use the oat boat? Yeah! Good boy! You’re so smart! Well you’re definitely a retriever, I mean, you didn’t retrieve it in the way that I thought you would, but you still are bringing it back. That’s gotta count for something.”

The post came with a caption that read: “Sometimes I feel like oatmeal is the dog version of me and vice versa.”

The post quickly attracted animal lovers from all over the platform, receiving over 5.1 million views and 700,000 likes so far.

One user, Jenniflower, commented: “I adore this little guy.” And aliyah said: “the way he swims back is very graceful & peaceful.” Tati: “dogs really be like ‘bruh I don’t wanna get my hair wet”

Another user, Hannah Rogers wrote: “I love how he uses the float to get the ball and then ditches the float.” And extr1123 added: “the fact that he knew to use the boat.” Weirdo 2.9 said: “HE HAS AN OAT BOAT????” Kateeshamolina253 said: “he’s so smart.”

Newsweek reached out to Adriabarich for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.