British Bulldog becomes obsessed with watching the Lion King movie

A British Bulldog that is "obsessed" with The Lion King has become a TikTok star after adorable videos of him watching the movie racked up almost a million views.

Owner Carly Pither, 33, is convinced one-year-old Bruce believes he is a lion after he first became transfixed by the big cats in wildlife documentaries.

So she thought she would try putting on the hit Disney film on her TV and was left gobsmacked by his incredible response.

The loveable pooch curls up quietly to watch the entire film "like a child" - up until the tear-jerking scene where [spoiler alert] Mustafa dies.

At that point Bruce reacts in the same way every single time by jumping and "hopping around like a bunny" as well as barking at the television.

One video clip of Bruce reacting to the famous heartbreaking scene has been viewed 984,200 times on the video sharing app, where he has 7,217 followers.

Carly says it has now got to the point where the only thing that calms down her hyperactive pet and stops him destroying the furniture is putting on The Lion King.

She believes Bruce has now watched his favourite film hundreds of times after he became "mesmerised" by the 2019 remake of the classic animated family film.

Carly, an assistant nurse, from Northampton, said: "It is his favourite movie. He's obsessed with it.

"When Mustafa dies he reacts the same way every time. It is like he knows what's happening.

"He starts barking, jumps up and hops around like a bunny. He's mesmerised by it and will sit and watch as long as it's on.

"We have got to the point where if we want to watch something else on the TV we have to play it for him on our phones.

"If he's playing up we'll put it on and he completely pauses. It stops him from tearing up the furniture."

Carly says she first noticed Bruce had an interest in lions when her partner Alfie Paterson, 32, an electrician, was watching a wildlife documentary when he was a pup. 

She added: "The first time it happened my partner was watching a nature documentary and Bruce froze and watched it when the big cats came on.

"We don't know why he does it - but he just sat there watching it like a child. When lions come on Bruce just loves it. He goes crazy.

"For most dogs it's dogs they bark at the TV but for him it's lions. It's like he thinks he's one of them.

"Then he had this amazing reaction to the Lion King when I was watching it.  I told my partner he should see how Bruce reacted to the Lion King.

"I played the scene again when my partner had come back from work and he reacted in the same way. He does it every single time now.

"We filmed him, showed it to our family and thought it was unusual because we didn't think other dogs do this.

"My niece said to put it on Tik Tok and we should use the hashtag 'Disney Dog' because he loves the films.

"He got nearly a million views since we put it up six or seven weeks ago. He's got his own Tik Tok and Instagram account.

"Bruce has since become a local celebrity. Kids from our street have been knocking on the door asking to play with on the lawn.

"He's mischievous but just a well mannered and loveable dog. I put up videos of him getting up on to the coffee table and ignoring me when I tell him to get down.

"People are quite surprised when they see how he reacts to the lions and say it's fantastic. The comments on Tik Tok say he's amazing.

"An American woman asked if all English dogs do this - but I'm pretty sure they don't and Bruce is rather unique."