In recent years, small dog owners have become increasingly concerned about the risks birds pose to their pets.
Although it sounds like it could never happen, and owners fear it never will - that a bird could swoop down and carry away a pet - the nightmare scenario has sadly been proven true.
While not the only recorded attack, the story of Gizmo, the chihuahua snatched by a seagull back in 2019, is still fresh in the memory of many owners.
Not willing to take any chances, one woman decided to buy her dog a safety vest.
And while the vest serves a serious purpose, it also looks hilarious on her pooch, as she highlighted when sharing a clip of the safety equipment in action on TikTok.
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Posting as @technical_difficulty, the dog-owner named Karen captured her chihuahua walking in the vest - which features spikes facing toward the sky.
Captioned "little dog problems", followed by a laughing emoji, it is accompanied by a comedic voiceover.
As the video plays, a voice says: "We ain't scared of no hawk."
"A hawk should be scared of you," it adds, while the camera pans to show the number of large spikes across her dog's back, plus the smaller studs around the collar.
And the video delighted viewers, racking up 1.3million likes, plus thousands of comments.
One person joked: "That hawk gonn think it stepped on a Lego."
And another added: "I think i saw ur dog at a korn concert i went to last month."
According to the RSPCA, seagulls are known to swoop when trying to protect chicks - which hatch and grow in early summer. But there are steps you can follow to help protect your dogs.
A spokeswoman told The Mirror : "Gulls that swoop suddenly on people or pets are usually just trying to protect nearby chicks that have left the nest but aren’t yet able to fly properly.
"They'll stop when the person or animal has moved away from their young.
"This behaviour usually only lasts for a few weeks during the summer until the chicks have fledged and are able to protect themselves."
"The RSPCA advises pet-owners to put their dog on a lead and to avoid disturbing the birds by keeping their distance from any gull nests, or chicks seen on the ground."
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