This mod lets players pet the dog in Skyrim

A Skyrim modder has created a series of pet-the-dog animations to allow players to interact with any furry friends they encounter.

The mod, which was created by Jayserpa (via PCGN) has three pet settings including one for when the dog you’re approaching is sitting, standing, or laying down. All players have to do after downloading the mod is approach a dog without any magic, weapons, or fists equipped and let the petting animation take over. 

Although the mod’s upload date of April 1 may have confused those eager to try it, Jayserpa reassures players “I realize this might seem like a joke mod given the date, but I assure you it is NOT. After 10 years, we've seen all sorts of ehem, interesting mods but there is one key aspect that was always missing, so I made it happen.” The mod now has over 3,000 downloads and 20,000 views. That’s a lot of good boys who are about to get a pet. 

The desire for players to pet their in-game dogs is nothing new, there’s even an active Twitter account that is dedicated to reporting exactly which dogs in which games are able to be pet. We’ve also shared several perfect examples of this  
adorable feature including the petting action in Monster Hunter Rise, the Ghost of Tsushima update which lets you recruit dogs via petting, and The Sea of Thieves dog inclusion.

Dog petting in games has become so popular in fact that digital storefront Humble Bundle previously released a Can You Pet The Dog bundle which featured three games that - as promised - allow you to pet the dog. Not only that but Baldur’s Gate 3 patch notes revealed some interesting player statistics including that the dog in the game has been pet over 400,000 times - which must make that particular dog the goodest boy in video game history. 

Want to find out more about video game dogs? Find out why we are all so heavily invested in being able to pet dogs in video games. For more mods, take a look at our best Skyrim mods list.