Even the Dog Is Ashamed/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character, probably facing something embarassing, turns to look at the dog, which also displays some sign of being ashamed.

  • Straight: After doing something really stupid, the hero turns to look at his dog, who gives a disapproving woof and walks off.
  • Exaggerated: The dog slaps the hero upside the head.
  • Justified: The dog is, for some reason explained in plot, of the same intelligence as any other human, and is therefore reacting the same.
  • Inverted:
    • A dog, after doing something ridiculous, looks to its owner, who shakes their head and walks away.
    • Alternatively: The human character does something wrong, looks to the dog, who gives him a thumbs up.
  • Subverted: When the character gives a hopeful glance at their dog, it whimpers a bit... then walks over, tail wagging, to provide support anyway.
  • Double Subverted:
  • Parodied: A cat or some other unlikely animal gives a distinctly canine woof of disapproval and glares at the character who has done something wrong.
  • Deconstructed: The character has actually offended God, and the dog's shame is just the first hint of a long Walk the Earth plotline where all living things shun him.
  • Reconstructed: The dog and the owner share their moral condition, and the dog winces in the same shame that the owner is feeling.
  • Zig Zagged: The dog flip-flops constantly between ashamed or showing sympathy, to the point where viewers suspect it's just trying to mess with the poor owner's head.
  • Averted:
    • The character doesn't even look at the dog after doing something ridiculous.
    • Alternatively: The dog doesn't react at all, nor knows what's going on.
  • Enforced: The dog is supposed to be a literal Morality Pet. Therefore, its whole purpose is to show whether the Hero is doing the right thing or not for the benefit of the viewers.
  • Lampshaded: "Oh, great. Even the dog's mad at me."
  • Invoked: A character standing next to the dog gives it a light kick to make it whimper when the character who's done something wrong looks over, in an attempt to get the point across of how bad their actions really were.
  • Defied: The character, knowing in advance that he might be doing something stupid, keeps the dog far away to avoid further humiliating himself.
  • Discussed: "...He's a dog. How does he even know to be ashamed, every single time?"
  • Conversed: "Oh, look. The next scene's going to be the dog's reaction shot, just wait... see, I told you!"

What did you do?! Look, Even the Dog Is Ashamed!

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Even_the_Dog_Is_Ashamed/Playing_With?oldid=856337"