Halifax dog tease video tops YouTube for 2011

A Halifax man's viral video about a hungry dog being teased about bacon was YouTube's top hit in the U.K. and the second-most watched clip in Canada for 2011.

Andrew Grantham voiced the part of a taunting owner and a German Shepherd named Clarke discussing tasty meat treats in Ultimate Dog Tease.

"So I went to the fridge and I opened up the meat drawer. You know what the meat drawer is? I will tell you what's in there," the off-camera human voice says.

Clarke's mouth moves, so it appears he is talking back. His eyes widen as he hears a delicious description involving maple-flavoured bacon.

Clarke appears to howl and cry when the human tells the dog he ate the whole treat himself.While Clarke was left empty-mouthed, other animals have benefited. Grantham produced a line of merchandise featuring Clarke and is donating the profits to the SPCA. So far, he has raised $25,000.

Man, dog never met

In fact, Grantham never met the dog, which lives in Colorado, but created the online hit after Clarke's owners sent him the clip.

It has been viewed more than 74 million times. It received a boost when it did the rounds of U.S. media shows.

It was top in Britain, but second in Canada to Rebecca Black.

Grantham said he is delighted with his video's success, but he remains a cat person.

"I don't own a dog, no. I have three cats of my own," he said.

His first hit was Jupiter the white talking cat from Pennsylvania. That cat needed emergency medical care, but the owners didn't have enough money. Online fans of Grantham's video contributed money from all over the world and saved the cat's life.