Pets have an abundance of talent when it comes to making us smile and they don’t even know it! But these photos shortlisted for this year’s Comedy Pet Photo Awards are a reminder that pets are a constant source of joy and laughter.
The annual pet photography competition held in the UK has selected 25 finalists for 2023 and say that “there are some absolute crackers to make you smile!”
There’s a cat performing a victory pose and a dog pretending to be Zorro and a dog among the weed.
The pets have been wonderfully captured by their owners and photographers around the world and show them at their funniest. So check out the photos below and have a giggle:
Zorro reborn! The avenger of the poor is back, but this time as a dog and not on a horse, but in a car! The obligatory black mask is a must, of course.
Miyagi Sendai took this photo of his rescued cat in the perfect landing pose. Victory!
When digging a hole gets serious! Sophie Boynton writes, “Shadow was digging holes as normal at the beach, when all of a sudden he was showing off his new technique! Luckily the camera was at the ready for this crazy position!”
Corinna Mooser wondered why her dog Runa was so happy and jokes, “So this is the source of happiness…That explains so much. (Don’t worry, it’s just regular hemp for industry).”
Michel Zoghzoghi writes, “Alex and Max are two rescued kittens. Alex is the shy one. Max is the playful one. Together they form a lethally cute duo. I had more fun taking photos of these two than during my most adventurous wildlife photography trips.”
“Karin and her two dogs. Don’t they all look almost the same?”
“Our cat Lilly played with a mouse, we saved the mouse and our dog Amy was fascinated by the mouse,” says Udo Krauss.
Masayoshi Yamamoto was reminded of another famous photo while taking his. Of the cat he says, “He stuck out his tongue at me just as [like] famous Einstein’s photo.”
Chris Porsz writes, “In March 2019 I sat in the Union Sq New York dog run when I spotted a lady with a pink bag in her hand (to keep her hand clean) throwing a ball to her dog [that] sat down facing her. The dog then launched itself and flipped in mid air to face me and snap! As you can see the lady with her hand on her head was as surprised as me and I think she is saying ‘phew’! I have searched in vain via the NY media to find the owner so that I can send her a copy. No [luck], so I am hoping this Pet Comedy competition can help me find the mystery woman and her leaping dog. You never know!”
Kenichi Morinaga thinks this cat is the big boss. “Big Boss is the Boss around here,” he says. “He is gentle and [his] kindness [is] just [as] big.”
“Kylian could not sleep in another bed,” Katia Pillonel says of her Irish Terrier. “Maybe he dreamt of [the] jungle…”
The 498th round of Hide and Seek was getting a bit old for Nala the cat. “Misty the spaniel desperately wanted to play with Nala [the cat], the dignified older lady of the menagerie. She wasn’t that keen, fortunately Misty was pretty terrible at hide and seek.”
Kenichi Morinaga thinks the cat on his hind legs is waiting for a football free kick.
Tiny happy ferret Boudicca (only 2.5 months old!) enjoys her first outdoor walk.
“Yes, his name is Oscar,” says Lana Polyakova. “He is an Afghan greyhound and is very pleased with himself.”
Bidule the cat as goalkeeper! While at home, Felix Larcher snapped this shot as he was playing with his cat and a piece of paper.
Gill Woodcock says his dog Bumble “puts his heart and soul into everything‚ it just doesn’t always work out.”
Kazutoshi Ono snapped this shot and says of the cat, “He seems to pop out of the autumn leaves, doesn’t he?”
“Bobby reaching for the ball against a beautiful sunset,” Christine Johnson says of her dog. “We were taking photos of Bobby as the sun was quickly setting and disappearing behind the hill. I was changing the setting on my camera, to keep the detail on a black dog against a nice sky and soon realised, just go with the simple option and shoot him as a silhouette.”
They sure look alike. Something about the hair…
“Two sisters from different litters: self-confident Crystal and cute baby Daisy.”
Is it a seal or a dog? Monyque Macedo Dos Santos says, “There’s a hiding place under the sofa where Louis (the dog) likes to hide, that day I took his tennis ball from ‘his place’, he got angry and put his head out through the hole barking asking for his ball back, that’s when he turned into this angry seal, and I decided to register the moment.”
“Beautiful Edgar’s favourite food are the leaves and flowers of dandelions. Here she is seen taking her time to savour the flavour.” Edgar is a Mediterranean spur thighed tortoise.
Kerstin Ordelt says of her photo, “We tried to get a dreamy autumn photo of Milo – instead of lying a bit on his side he rolled around like crazy. His family loves this shot because it shows his personality better than any other picture.”
John Young writes, “This is Barney our toy poodle, caught mid-flight whilst running.”
Winners will be announced in August. To find out more about the Comedy Pet Photo Awards visit www.comedypetphoto.com.
To see more great photos, take a look at the finalists from 2022 here and 2021 here.