This Adorable Asian Dog's Reaction to Meeting an American for the First Time Is Too Cute to Pass Up
Not all dogs are golden retrievers, nor should they be. For some dogs, warming up to a person takes time. Even more if that person is different than anyone you have previously met.
For one dog living in Asia, meeting a white American was a complete surprise. He had never met someone like him before, so the moment he saw his dad's friend for the first time, he reacted.
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A Name Fit for a Great Dog
The dog, called Nyan, has a very specific name. He was found on the street around the new year. His dad took him and gave him a name that carried a meaning. His name means "year" in his dad's language. His full name, Da Nyan, translates to "a year of bountiful harvest/"
For a few months, he lived happily with his new dad. Then, a tall, pale, English-speaking American arrived at his house-and Nyan had questions!
Three Days of Pure Suspicion
His dad posted on Reddit's r/WhatsWrongWithYourDog, explaining that Nyan kept a careful, anxious distance from his dad's visiting friend. He explained, "He is being very nervous around him for the first three days."
There is a perfectly good reason for it. The friend, according to the dog's dad, is "very pale, speaks weirdly (he mostly speaks English), has lighter colored hair, and is really really tall."
That means for Nyan, the new guy has visual and spoken differences.
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Dogs Can Understand Different Languages
One Reddit commenter said that dogs don't always like hearing a new language. And the science backs that up. was onto something real. A 2022 study from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest used brain scans on 18 dogs to show that different brain regions lit up depending on the language they heard.
The study found that dogs can distinguish between a familiar and an unfamiliar language. Nyan, a dog raised in Asia, instantly recognized that the visitor spoke a different language. And that felt strange.
The Internet Had Its Day With Nyan
One person said, "He's so pretty. He has nothing to be ashamed of - no one has ever regretted being too suspicious of us white folks."
Another said, "I would pet and give snacks to after he's done freaking out about me being white."
How Dogs Warm Up to People
Nyan's three-day arc is not unusual for a nervous or street-rescued dog. Dogs that didn't have proper socialization as puppies, or those who spent time on the streets, often carry a wariness of unfamiliar appearances, sounds, or behaviors into adulthood.
What helps is when the new person ignores the dog entirely at first. Let the dog keep its distance, and make the first move. When curiosity begins to top anxiety, dogs approach people on their own terms, usually by sniffing from a safe distance.
Nyan took three days, but as his dad said, "Now he's warming up to my friend (a little bit, but it's progress because he's always scared of everything)."
For a dog that came from the streets, being scared of everything, slowly deciding that the tall, pale, English-speaking stranger might be okay after all is more than a small moment.
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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 2:48 PM.