Vernon dog obsessed with swimming becomes TikTok star
Every night at 7 p.m. Vernon resident Lisa Mazurek streams video on TikTok of her dog, Thor, jumping into and swimming in his very own indoor pool and it’s delighting his followers, over 65,000 of them.
The Boston terrier is obsessed with swimming, and can’t seem to get enough. He makes a happy squeaking sound almost every time he jumps into the pool.
“He’s pretty much loved water since he followed my husband into the lake for a swim so we got him a backyard pool,” Mazurek said. “After exercising all summer he’d gain weight in the winter so we thought about making him an indoor pool.”
Mazurek and her husband recently transformed their garage to include an indoor swimming area with a pool so Thor is free to swim all year round, and he does, twice a day, every day, and it never gets old.
“He is super funny, swimming laps counter clockwise doing happy squeals almost every time he jumps in,” she said. “It’s his rebel yell, and when we play the Rocky theme song he turns his head and swims faster.”
Mazurek started posting TikTok videos of the dog's indoor and outdoor swims @thorthebrowndog and the account has blown up.
"It really kicked off when I posted a video of calling Thor to go swimming to the Flintstone theme song, suddenly I had 10,000 followers," she said.
“People message us saying they’re struggling with things like depression or cancer and how much the videos cheer them up."
@thorthebrownboston Who doesn't love themselves some squeakssss #VikingRise #dogsoftiktok #bostonterrier #justkeepswimming #dogsthatswim ? ACDC style hard rock(1021726) - Canal Records JP
Mazurek said the dog has been covered by The Dodo twice in the past, an American digital publisher focussed on telling animal stories. Earlier this week, CNN did a story about Thor and since then she's had people reaching out about the dog from all over North America.
“Suddenly you wake up to a message from CNN and you click on it, wondering if it’s legit,” Mazurek said. “I didn’t know what to expect and hadn’t even washed my face or brushed my hair. I entered the room and was like, hold on a second there’s a video happening here. I convinced myself it wasn’t the worst I’ve looked and it wasn’t about me, it was about Thor.”
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When asked why she thinks the videos of Thor swimming are so popular, Mazurek said, “I think it’s because every day is a very best day for Thor, no matter what’s in front of him. If that helps make a day brighter or a moment better for someone else than it’s all that matters.”
@thorthebrownboston Jump? no problemo.... #dogsthatswim #dogsoftiktok #dogmomlife #bostonterrier ? original sound - thor
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