Unflattering Dog Photo Challenge takes social media by storm

Dog pulling silly face
(Image credit: Twitter: @embernotfound)

The latest trend to go viral on social media is both as funny and as pleasing as it sounds: it’s the Unflattering Dog Photo Challenge.

We’ve all got those photos where your dog was doing something cute, so you rush to capture it on your phone, but when you review the image you’ve taken it doesn’t quite capture the subject in the right light. In fact, they look downright goofy, gormless or gaga – or even like a different species!

If you fancy polishing your pet-photography technique then take a look at our guide on how to take great pet photos.

A post shared by Spike (@my.pet.monster.spike)

A photo posted by on on Oct 18, 2020 at 9:12pm PDT

But now you don’t need to delete them: instead you can celebrate your unphotogenic pooches by using the #unflatteringdogphotochallenge hashtag that’s going viral across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and use them to help bring joy to a jaded world.

These collections of awkward, bizarre and often hilarious unfiltered photos are a source of glee, and you may lose many hours browsing through them – but you’ll be glad you did. In a world that seems to only celebrate photoshopped pictures of perfect, pampered pooches, this is a truly wonderful breath of fresh air – and a great way to celebrate the madness of our furry four-legged friends.

A post shared by mamasanity (@mamasanity)

A photo posted by on on Oct 5, 2020 at 4:52am PDT

The reaction online has been meteoric, with many pictures going viral, and viewers commenting that this is just the silly celebration of canine madness we need to help lift everyone’s spirits.

This challenge is open to anyone, so if you’ve got a picture of your pup or pooch that you thought you’d never show anyone, make someone’s day and share it with the world now!

Jamie Middleton

Jamie Middleton is a freelance editor and writer who has been editing and creating content for magazines and websites for over 20 years. As well as writing about the pets he loves, he has helped create websites about tech and innovation like TechRadar.com, Innovate UK and TechSPARK, written programmes for music festivals, books on inventions and architecture, TV listings magazines, and edited publications about cars such as Lexus, Toyota and Jaguar. In his spare time he writes fiction books and poetry - or at least he does when he is permitted to by his cat Pirate, who enjoys the warmth of laptops too much to allow being creative to get in the way.

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