Fury erupted on social media Monday over two photos shared by Vice President candidate Tim Walz supposedly showing him with his beloved dog.
Both were posted on the 60-year-old’s social media sometime in 2022, and show different dogs despite both captions mentioning the Minnesotan’s black lab, Scout.
The photo on the left showed Walz with Scout, with an accompanying caption stating, ‘Sending a special birthday shoutout to our favorite pup, Scout.’
Meanwhile, the one on the right, taken mere months later, showed Walz with a different dog. Its caption read, ‘Couldn’t think of a better way to spend a beautiful fall day than at the dog park. I know Scout enjoyed it.’
A series of conservatives went on to claim the governor was faking the dog’s identity, attempting to pass off the two pooches as one and the same.
The conspiracy was swiftly debunked – after a Minnesota GOP strategist first made the claim while posting the two photos side-by-side. It later emerged the second was simply showing a different dog at the park, as Scout remained off-screen.
Conservatives were seen circulating a bizarre claim that Vice President candidate Tim Walz has been faking the identity of his family’s dog on Monday
The conspiracy was swiftly debunked – after a Minnesota GOP strategist made the claim while posting two photos of the Minnesota governor with two different dogs
Tim Walz shares video of his dog scout at a dog park
‘Yes, this is Tim Walz tweeting about his dog Scout. Only problem is that these are two completely different dogs,’ wrote Minnesota GOP strategist Dustin Grage, the one to kick of the controversy.
Within moments, a community note was added to Grage’s tweet, specifying ‘the photo on the right is from a dog park that Tim Walz was at with Scout and many other dogs.’
Scout can be seen playing with these dogs in the full video, the note states, as commenters were quick to point out that Walz was merely stating that his dog enjoyed the park as well.
The person who made the note was among those to issue a comment pointing out the obvious, sharing the original video of Walz at the dog park – with Scout as well as the mystery dog – in her post.
She wrote: ‘It took me exactly 45 seconds to go to @Tim_Walz Instagram page and see this is a video of his dog Scout playing with another dog at the dog park.’
Others were quick to then call out Grage for stirring the pot, with erroneous ammo that seemingly showed his own failure to vet the claims.
Some even went as far to criticize the Republican’s ‘critical thinking’ skills, pointing out how Walz has a several social media posts and press photos with Scout, the black lab.
‘The dog in the tweet on the right is just a random dog they met at the dog park; he’s not identifying the dog as Scout in the tweet on the right,’ wrote one such onlooker, adding to express their exasperation, ‘My god.’
The photo on the left showed Walz with Scout, a Labrador retriever mix his family got in 2018. A caption read, ‘Sending a special birthday shoutout to our favorite pup, Scout.’
Meanwhile, the one on the right was taken months later and showed Walz with a different dog. Its caption read, ‘Couldn’t think of a better way to spend a beautiful fall day than at the dog park. I know Scout enjoyed it’
Several went on to bash the GOP strategist who made the false claims, with one person sharing the original video of Walz at the dog park that showed how Scout was offscreen
It emerged that the second was simply showing a different dog at the park as Scout remained off-screen
Scout, seen here with the Democrat, has been in Walz’s family since 2019, and makes frequent appearances on his social media
‘These morons have such low thinking skills that it didn’t occur to him that Walz is taking a photo w ANOTHER dog (pic at right) bc they are at a DOG PARK and referencing that Scout enjoyed it,’ another added.
‘He is not saying it is Scout featured in the pic. Morons.’
Another simply asked Grage ‘ What is wrong with you?’ while others praised the presence of the community note feature.
‘Community notes, for the win. Again,’ one commenter joked, as the disinformation was easily debunked.
‘These pathetic weirdos are so desperate to find a line of attack that sticks to @Tim_Walz that they’re resorting to dog park conspiracy theories,’ wrote someone else after the claims were settled.
‘Truly hilarious watching them get increasingly desperate as every attack line just bounces off his authenticity armor.’
The post, meanwhile, was reshared by right-leaning figures like Charlie Kirk – who went on to delete it – as well as anti-trans swimmer Riley Gaines.
Minnesota state Rep. Mary Franson reshared it as well, showing how the claims quickly rocketed to the top of the GOP’s online discourse on Monday.
Scout, meanwhile, has been in Walz’s family since 2019, along with wife Gwen and their two children.
Son Gus, 17, recently made headlines after shedding tears during his dad’s speech at the DNC last week.
‘That’s my dad,’ he shouted as he stood up and proudly pointed at his dad on the convention stage, seated next to his sister Hope in the front row.
