Pop the English Bulldog, who often goes by Big Poppa and Popsicle, is sick of the COVID-19 quarantine. He used to spend all his time playing outside with kids and making new friends. But now Pop’s mom, Rashida Ellis, can no longer take him to meet people due to social distancing. Ellis watched her 3-year-old dog get sadder each and every day, but there was nothing she could do to help. However, like any dog parent, she still took plenty of cute pictures of him and shared them online during the extra free time. To her surprise, one picture in particular made Pop famous!
Stranded at Home
Ellis is a costume designer for TV shows and movies in Atlanta, Georgia. However, since film production is currently paused, she can no longer go to work. For the past month and a half, she has spent her time making clothes to sell online. While she still has stuff to keep her busy, Pop does not. He usually gets to come to film sets with her and meet lots of people, but now he has to stay inside.
Pop has spent most of his quarantine sitting on the patio, looking outside longingly. He can sometimes see the neighbor kids and dogs playing in the courtyard. Poor Big Poppa doesn’t understand why he can’t go play with them, so he just spends a lot of his time moping. He is a very social dog, so he doesn’t like having so much alone time with his mom.
“The sad thing is we have to social distance even him,” said Ellis. “When he’s inside, he just walks out to the patio looking for people. He’s sleeping more. He’s a little sluggish. I can tell he’s not as happy and excited as he usually is.”
One day, Ellis noticed that Pop looked extra sad. He sat on the patio, looking at two brothers playing outside. He kept making noises to try to get their attention, but they didn’t hear him because their apartment is six stories up. It was the saddest Ellis had ever seen him, yet he still looked adorable as always. So, she captured a picture of the moment and posted it on Twitter.
“Big Poppa has been so sad today. I think he misses playing with the kids in the building. He just watches them from the patio,” Ellis posted on Twitter with the following photo.
Big Poppa Goes Viral
Ellis posts photos of Pop regularly, so she posted his sad picture without thinking twice. However, when she checked her phone later, it was blowing up with notifications! Usually, her photos only get a few likes and comments, but people all over the world were responding to her post.
Not only is the photo beautiful and adorable, but it’s also extremely relatable to all humans during this time. Even though social distancing is meant to keep us safe, it sure gets boring after a while. Most people and even some dogs could understand where Pop was coming from. Even celebrities like Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams and Ellen Degeneres shared the post.
“Stay inside. Flatten this curve. Do it for Big Poppa,” Ellen wrote on Twitter.
If you didn’t have enough motivation to stay inside before, just look at Big Poppa’s sad face. The sooner we flatten the curve, the sooner Pop can see his friends again. The least we can do is all stay inside for this Bulldog’s sake. He deserves to go outside and play as soon as possible.
Big Poppa has become so popular that Ellis has even discussed posting more adorable pictures of him soon. Some fans have requested pictures of him holding ‘happy birthday’ signs for their birthdays, and Ellis said she’s willing to try it. So, stay tuned for more adorable Big Poppa pictures in the near future!
H/T: buzzfeednews.com
Featured Image: @RaeElle/Twitter
Toledo, United States.
