It began as a playful experiment but has spiraled into one of the funniest and most endearing trends of 2025. Across Japan, pet owners are staging ID-style portraits of their dogs, complete with blue backdrops, stiff poses, and hilariously awkward expressions. The images have exploded across social media, striking a perfect balance of absurdity, cuteness, and design precision.
The charm lies in how ordinary and extraordinary they feel at the same time. By transforming something as bureaucratic as an ID photo into a canvas for dogs, owners are poking fun at everyday formality while celebrating their pets in a way that’s impossible not to share.
Why It Works
Japan has always had a soft spot for anthropomorphism: animals dressed in seasonal outfits, mascots shaped like food, Shiba Inu “shop clerks” waiting at counters. The “Doggy ID” takes that instinct one step further: it’s not just pets in costumes, but pets stepping into a mundane human ritual we all recognize.
The results are funny because they feel familiar. A pug caught mid-blink looks like someone who desperately wants to retake their passport photo. A Shih Tzu tilting sideways could be any student squirming under the flash of a school camera. There’s humor in the mismatch, warmth in the humanity of it, and just enough awkwardness to make the photos irresistible.
The Deeper Psychology
Part of the appeal, psychologists say, comes from the “mismatch effect”: the brain delights in broken expectations. Add to that the natural “cuteness trigger” of round eyes and soft features, and you have images that make people laugh and coo in the same breath.
Then there’s empathy. Most people dread their own ID photos, with their stiff smiles and unflattering angles. Seeing a dog endure the same ordeal creates instant relatability. In a way, these portraits let us laugh at bureaucracy without resenting it.
Where Fiction Meets Reality
What makes the trend even more amusing is how close it is to reality. Japan already requires dog registration, health checks, and vaccinations, with some municipalities assigning a kind of “dog number” for official records. The viral photos exaggerate this practice into parody, but they’re not completely detached from everyday life. In a society where order and documentation are second nature, the idea of pets with their own paperwork feels oddly believable.
The Stars of the Show
Not all breeds are equally suited to ID stardom. Flat-faced dogs like pugs, Shih Tzus, French bulldogs dominate the trend because their expressions read so clearly as human. A tongue lolling at the wrong moment, a squint under the lights, or a perfectly straight stare transforms them into tiny bureaucrats frozen in time.
From Meme to Market
As with many Japanese fads, the joke is already morphing into something more tangible. Pet photo studios are offering “official” ID shoots, while novelty retailers have rolled out mock ID cards for dogs, complete with spaces for fake license numbers and whimsical job titles like “Treat Inspector.” It’s not hard to imagine calendars, gachapon capsule toys, or keychains being next. What began as satire could soon fill souvenir shops.
A Reflection of Pet Culture
More than a viral laugh, the Doggy ID boom reflects Japan’s shifting relationship with pets. In a society where birth rates decline and households shrink, dogs and cats increasingly take on the roles of children, companions, even co-workers. Pet cafés, strollers, luxury grooming salons– each is a way of investing affection and identity into animals who are seen less as property and more as family.
The ID photos crystallize that bond. They let owners place their dogs inside a human framework, not to belittle them but to elevate them, proof that these pets are woven into the same daily rituals that structure human life.
More Than Just a Meme
A wall of dog ID portraits might look like lighthearted internet clutter, but it also offers a glimpse into how we connect with animals. By pulling them into our most mundane traditions, we create humor, affection, and, above all, connection.
Whether it’s a French bulldog staring sternly into the lens, a pug caught mid-derp, or a Shiba giving its best suspicious glare, these photos remind us of something simple but profound: our pets may not need identification cards, but they’ve already secured lifelong membership in our families.