According to the creator of the Cryptid Dogs subreddit, the group is meant to show appreciation for the “weird-looking lads” in people’s lives. The photos are meant to represent canines that look “so strange you can’t help but find them adorable.”

Though many of the photos are derpy, goofy, and silly, others are beyond bizarre and wouldn’t seem amiss in your nightmares.

The online community was created all the way back in the second half of 2019. Now, more than 5 years later, it’s home to 56k members who like dogs, photography, memes, and weird(er) internet content.

It just goes to show that taking a good, high-quality picture of your pet is harder than it looks. Any of you Pandas who have dogs or cats at home probably know what a challenge it is when your floofs keep moving about.

Many of the images that end up on the Cryptid Dogs subreddit are incredibly meme-worthy. That is, they have a lot of potential to go viral on the internet. Meanwhile, a handful of them have already become memes that have been shared and reshared on social media for years.

It’s impossible to know for certain what kind of content will end up being popular, but a good rule of thumb is to look at how (un)relatable it is. To oversimplify, the best memes end up resonating with the target audience on some level.

Cryptids are supernatural, mythical, or strange creatures from stories that some people believe exist or have existed in the past but have yet to conclusively prove any of this. Some of the most commonly known cryptids include beings like Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti, as well as the Loch Ness monster.

It’s easy to scoff at so-called cryptozoologists, but nature can be weird, wonderful, and evolve in very peculiar ways. Just look at dinosaurs—they’re not far off from dragons. And don’t even get us started about the weird beings that live at the bottom of the ocean.

That being said, believing in something really, really hard isn’t enough: you need substantial evidence that a being you think exists actually exists in the wild. Otherwise, the scientific community and the world at large won’t take you seriously.

A lot of the ‘proof’ that amateur and ‘professional’ cryptozoologists have includes low-quality, grainy, or blurry photos or videos where it’s hard to tell what the subject matter actually is. With this in mind, the Cryptid Dogs online group's name subtly suggests that the images its members share ought to be similarly peculiar and taken from odd angles. There has to be some sort of mystical, even creepy vibe to the pics.

The quality of the photos isn’t the focal point; the goal is to capture your dog behaving and looking bizarre, as though it’s a mythical being. The weirder, the better. Even an adorable, cutesy, wholesome animal can look slightly terrifying and threatening if you adjust the lighting, pick an unusual camera angle, and intentionally take pictures while it’s moving.

Throw in a bit of gentle post-processing in Photoshop and there you go—something that looks like it could easily be a cryptid.

Even though many of these photos are far from professional, they are authentic. They capture the side of your pets that not everyone is privy to. And that can be a lot of fun. On the flip side, if you want to take quality photos, then you don’t really need the best possible tech. If you have a decent smartphone, the odds are that it has a good camera.

The key to good photography is having a bit of patience and perseverance as you develop your instincts.

That means taking lots of pictures and experimenting with different lighting, angles, framing, and timing. Eventually, you’ll take some professional-looking photos among all the cryptid-like shots.

We’d love to hear what you think, Pandas. Which of these photos amused you the most? Were there any that genuinely frightened you? What are some of the goofiest photos of your pets that you’ve taken?

Are there any cryptids that you personally believe could be real? If you have a moment or two, share your thoughts in the comments, tell your doggos we said ‘hi!’, and share your most peculiar pet pics in the comment section at the very bottom of this list.