For several years now, posts have been appearing on the Internet about a dog that was allegedly trained to throw stones at unwanted guests, after which the animal’s owner was arrested. We have verified the authenticity of such publications.
The authors of many such records did not agree on where such an incident occurred. “A man in South Africa was arrested for allegedly training his dog to throw bricks at those who rang his doorbell. According to neighbors, he was unsociable and wanted to avoid unwanted visits. The dog was taught to hold a brick in its mouth and throw it accurately. The man was charged with cruelty to animals. The case sparked heated debate on the Internet, ranging from condemnation to shock and irony,” write in 2025. In some earlier posts indicatedthat this story took place somewhere in Asia. At the same time, several years ago also stated, as if a dog was throwing stones at unwanted guests in the UK. The name of the alleged owner was also mentioned - Roland Garros, who allegedly moved to the suburbs of London, but could not come to terms with the cordiality and goodwill of the local villagers, which is why he taught his dog a dangerous technique. It was reported that the introvert was given a serious fine. Sometimes in such posts the place of the alleged incident not called at all. Typically, authors include up to three photographs of a pit bull holding a building block in its mouth.
This story was widely circulated on VKontakte, where publics wrote about it “Killer humor"(234,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Survivor"(131,000), "Dead pages" (31,000) and "Degraded nation"(13,000). Similar posts receive thousands of likes on Instagram* (examples here, here And here), and are also found in Threads*, Facebook*, Telegram (here And here) and on entertaining websites.
A reverse search of viral dog photos shows that a selection of these images first appeared online in early January 2021. Then posts with these images went viral on social networks and entertainment sites in English-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, Spanish-speaking and other segments of the Internet. At the same time, one of the most popular captions for photographs was this humorous dialogue:
— Does your dog bite?
- No, she just throws bricks at people (in some versions - cinder blocks. — Approx. ed.).
As for the location of this story, they began to connect it with South Africa on social networks only in 2025. For example, one of these posts that appeared on Instagram on April 13, with 556,000 likes. The version according to which the dog's owner was arrested in the UK arose no later than June 1, 2021. And the fact that the incident occurred somewhere in Asia was written a few days earlier - on May 28, 2021, as evidenced by distributed screenshot news item on a certain website. Moreover, the same screenshot, but with the Asian News section and publication date blurred out used in some entries mentioning South Africa. The South African publication Opera News indeed reported about an alleged incident with a brick-throwing dog, but the materials only talked about the arrest of an Asian man with no reference to Africa.
However, on the Opera News website it was given image with a smeared watermark of the Introvert Quirk Instagram page, where May 16, 2021 posted a collage of two photos of a dog with the caption: “A man was arrested for training his dog to throw bricks at people ringing his doorbell.” The post itself included a quote from the animal’s perspective: “I know that most dogs prefer to do tricks, but I prefer bricks” (untranslatable pun: in English tricks - “tricks”, bricks - “bricks”). However, the very next day the post was updated and added: “To all those commentators who think this is real news... It's not real. It's just a meme."
“Verified” found several more versions of the story that did not become popular on the RuNet. For example, somewhere it is stated that the photos were taken in Tunisia or Thailand. However, another option deserves the most attention. Mexican newspaper office Metro with reference to local Eco Radio wrote that in 2022, a pit bull dropped a brick on the collector of a department store chain Coppel (there is provided opportunity lending and paying for purchases in installments) and broke his head. Photos of the victim were also provided. According to media reports, the dog was allegedly trained to throw objects at visitors, but the publication noted that, apart from the Facebook post, there is no evidence of what happened.
In fact, this alleged incident in Mexico became known January 2, 2021. According to what we found screenshots (the original publication could not be found), the victim himself, named Ian Wayne, spoke about what happened. He wrote:
"Good afternoon. I want to file a complaint because today, January 2, 2021, at approximately 5:00 pm, a coffee-colored pitbull dog threw a brick at me from the second floor of the house, breaking my head, but, fortunately, there were no serious consequences. I want you to spread this information because the owner did not want to take responsibility for what happened, simply telling me: “Fuck off, bro.”
In addition to two photos of the young man in a Coppel uniform, the post included a screenshot publications blogger Rayo Perro (Now his nickname is Rayos X). Seven hours earlier, he had copied a popular page onto his page. joke, which consisted of a photo of a dog with a rock in its mouth and the caption: “Just waiting for a Coppel employee.” However, there is every reason to believe that Wayne fabricated pictures of his injury, inspired by Rayo Perro's post.
“Verified” found that viral photos of a dog with a stone in its mouth on the night of January 1-2, 2021 were published by a Facebook user named Zuli Patricia (her original post is no longer available, but preserved screenshots). Judging by the entries on her page, the woman is engaged in rescuing dogs.
The woman accompanied a selection of seven photographs with the following description:
“Yeiko and Kendra are my mom’s neighbor’s dogs!
Yeiko is a very special dog, he always wants to have something in his mouth. Right now, for example, he’s dragging a building block... He doesn’t even have teeth anymore. He doesn't like it when children make noise, and as soon as he sees it, he grabs a bottle or whatever else comes under his paw and throws it at them. But I was told that he is not aggressive. Last time he jumped, bit the ball with it and, satisfied, returned and climbed onto the concrete slab again... But he does no harm.
And Kendra is his girlfriend. Last time she had puppies, but they all died. I suggested that the owners sterilize her, and they said they would think about it. I'm going to persuade them again... Maybe someone would like to become a sponsor of sterilization?
And to be honest, they are very skinny. The owners say they feed them, but I think they need more food. Anyone want to give them some food?”
In the “Verified” comment, Patricia said that the pictures were taken in the Mexican city of Monterrey, where she lives. According to the woman, the story of how a dog smashed the head of a Coppel collector with a stone is pure fiction. “Don’t believe any of this... It’s all lies because of memes, nothing more,” Patricia said. She added that the captured dogs had already died.
Thus, the photos of a pit bull with a building block in its mouth are genuine, but the story of the dog's training to throw bricks at passers-by and the subsequent arrest of its owner is a fiction. The pictures were originally published by an animal activist from Mexico, after which they went viral in the form of a meme, which, apparently, inspired a Spanish-speaking young man to fabricate a photo of his alleged head injury. Soon the arrest of the dog's owner was announced on Instagram, but the author of the publication then admitted that it was just a joke. Subsequently, the story spread throughout the world, transformed several times and changed the scene of action.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Instagram, Facebook and Threads, is an extremist organization; its activities and symbols are prohibited in Russia.
Cover photo: social networks
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