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Go to the animal shelter website, select a dog, fill out some paperwork, and bring it home.—
or, even easier, go to a breeder and choose your favorite, just remember to bring cash. 

Whether it is an animal shelter’s printing lists, a digital platform designed for “rehoming,” or a post-it note on the street, there is a multitude of pathways for a dog to enter a new human home —many of which now follow the easy-to-buy model of apps and direct-to-consumer online retail platforms.⁸

While such designations as “being an adopted dog” or “being a dog bought from the breeder next door” may imply not only a potential influence on the dog’s behavior based on its past experiences but also the human caregivers’ intent to shape the dog's future identity in accordance with societal norms. In essence, the dog, just saved from the kennel —or the breeder's hands, undergoes a process of adjustment to fulfill its designated purpose: An agility dog?⁹ A petfluencer?¹⁰ A hunting dog? Or would it even be capable of fulfilling all those roles?¹¹

Regardless of the dog's intended purpose, its identity is influenced by various factors such as the naming process, mate selection, or determining which commands and tricks are the most suitable to teach it. When those are accomplished, they are often acknowledged through positive reinforcement, often rewarded through verbal treats such as “Good girl!” and “Here's a treat for you!” But those rewards do not exist independently nor in a spontaneous manner. Instead, they are part of command sequences such as “Bella, sit down, paw. Good girl! *Human gives a treat to Bella*”, a setting in which “Bella” is expected to respond to certain commands to please the human and fulfill its requests. And, in the best-case scenario, it gets a snack.

“Bella” ☞

The name “Bella” is among the most commonly used names for dogs.¹²

“sit down” ☞

The command “sit down” is typically the first trick that dogs are taught.¹³

“and give paw” ☞

The request “give paw” involves the dog offering one of its most sensitive body parts to a human.¹⁴

Those terms are part of the daily bread of “Cuido lo que más quieres” — in English “I care for what you love the most,” a company that provides educational and caring services for companion animals in Ciudad Real, Spain —a city with a human population of 74.743 and 17.039 officially registered dogs. Merche, the owner of the business, receives a continual influx of requests for her services.

But what is her reply?
Sorry, we don’t have capacity, we even have a lengthy waiting list.

The notable demand for such services suggests that individuals often seek to outsource the fundamental education of their dogs to enhance their interaction with them. In this context, Merche satisfies the human desire for a well-behaved and obedient “Bella” that adheres to the established norms of dog-to-human interactions.¹⁵ Nonetheless, in line with her ethical stance towards dog educational approaches, she also provides instruction on how to place the dog as the subject of human-led command interactions:

“Bella, sit down, paw”: ☞


On the one hand, this phrase indicates the achievement of a successful training process. On the other hand, "Bella" has come to associate these words with her favorite reward: food.

“Good girl! *Human gives a treat to Bella*”: ☞

On one side, it refers to the human’s self-rewarding pat on the back. On the other, it highlights Bella’s motivation for complying with these actions, namely to receive a snack.

To commemorate the acclaimed success of those interactions, digital mediums are utilized to increase their reach. With 306M of the 471M companion dogs worldwide digitally exposed twice a week,¹⁶ studies suggest that dogs are a driving force behind digital content on social media.

But, where does “Bella” fit into all of this?

Honestly, nothing stands out.

“Bella” is merely another canine in the digital world, performing similar tricks on media platforms such as YouTube, and together with its list of commands, “sit down,”“give paw,”“good girl," it becomes a digital archetype. Despite this, while dog car drivers¹⁷ or hypnosis dogs¹⁸ occupy the attention of those seeking the most unusual dog performances, looking at videos such as “My Dog Doing Sit and Paw”^Fig.2 and “Molly Dog- Sit and Paw”^Fig.3 in which there is just a dog performing what could be considered the most basic tricks, seems quite banal.

Fig. 2
@foreveralone7554  “My Dog Doing Sit and Paw.”
n.d. Youtube video. Accessed January 6, 2023.

Fig. 3 
@cestrianvlogger. “Molly Dog: Sit and Paw.”
n.d. Youtube video. Accessed January 6, 2023

Do these videos belong to the episodes of dog-training shows that gained widespread popularity among dog communities in the 80s?¹⁹

Or do they fulfill the repertoire of David Letterman’s pet parade?²⁰

Instead, those YouTube videos serve as instruments to showcase the various roles that the character “Bella”can assume, offering a broad comprehension of the diverse connotations that such a familiar set of commands can convey.

The query, therefore, is:
What insights can be gleaned from a seemingly straightforward
sequence of “sit”, “give paw”, “good girl” and “a treat”?

Prior to examining how Mylo, Dakota, Strider, and Bella —the key figures of these videos— may shed light on the question through their actions of "sitting down" and "giving a paw," let's first analyze the process of their selection as the primary roles of the following narratives:

• The videos have been selected while researching on YouTube: “Dog sit down and give paw”
• The selection process did not follow any specific structure, yet the variety and diversity of choices were prioritized to bring different scenarios and perspectives over the reiterated command.
• The actions in each video were carefully monitored to track the particularity of each case and estimate the impact of different contexts and subjects involved. The outcomes of this analysis have been visually summarized at the beginning of each video case. ^{Fig. 5,10,15,20}