Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
  • home
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
Trending
  • Pokemon Winds and Waves
  • New Games for 2026
  • GamesRadar+ Replay
  • Mario Day deals
Don't miss these
Ghost of Yotei gameplay showing Atsu sitting on her horse between bright pink cherry blossoms, looking at a distant fortification built against a mountain
Open World Games Best open world games to play in 2026 and completely forget real life exists
Best PC games: Screenshots of Baldur's Gate 3, Helldivers 2, Split Fiction and the Resident Evil 4 Remake
PC Gaming The 25 best PC games to play in 2026
A screenshot of Gustave in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one of the best RPGs you can play in 2026
RPGs The 25 best RPGs worth playing in 2026
Best Ps5 games
Games Best PS5 games: The 25 greatest PlayStation 5 games in 2026, ranked
Mass Effect 2 - Garrus
Adventure Games The 25 best video game stories of all-time
Pokemon Pokopia screenshot showing Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle all gathered around a Ditto in human form between two green trees
Pokemon The ultimate Pokemon Pokopia guide for restoring the world around you
Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2
Adventure Games 25 best adventure games in 2026 to get swept up in
Fallout 4 power armor in repair rig
Fallout The best Fallout games, ranked
Best single player games: Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Games The 25 best single-player games to play in 2026
Four pictures of games from our selection of the best Switch 2 games list, showing Donkey Kong, Cloud from Final Fantasy, Mario and Luigi, and three starter Pokemon.
Games The 20 best Switch 2 games to play in 2026
best Xbox One games
Games The best Xbox One games of all time
A screenshot from Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen shows a male player character on a bike in a town.
Pokemon Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen Switch releases have an easy way to reset your game, which is either amazing or terrible news
Pokemon Pikachu
Adventure Games The 10 best games like Pokemon for the discerning trainer
Lana and Mui run through a wooden marketplace on stilts above a gorgeous blue ocean in Planet of Lana 2, with the Indie Spotlight branded GamesRadar+ badge in the corner
Platforming Games Playing as my alien cat buddy makes this gorgeous puzzle platformer feel like a co-op adventure even when I'm alone
Pombon in Pokemon Winds and Waves.
Pokemon As Pokemon Winds and Waves' Pombon quickly racks up fans, everyone hopes the fiery Pomeranian can avoid a starter curse
  1. Games

Stop everything: there’s a heckin' Twitter account that lets you know if can you pet dogs in video games

News
By Zoe Delahunty-Light published 7 March 2019

Who’s a good boy?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

An image of Dogmeat from Fallout 4
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
  • Email
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Get the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more


By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful


Want to add more newsletters?

GamesRadar+

Every Friday

GamesRadar+

Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.

GTA 6 O'clock

Every Thursday

GTA 6 O'clock

Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.

Knowledge

Every Friday

Knowledge

From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.

The Setup

Every Thursday

The Setup

Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.

Switch 2 Spotlight

Every Wednesday

Switch 2 Spotlight

Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.

The Watchlist

Every Saturday

The Watchlist

Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.

SFX

Once a month

SFX

Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!


An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter

Every now and again there comes an idea so good, so pure, that you wonder to yourself a) how you ever lived with it and b) why you didn’t think of it. Those feelings are about to hit you full force, as some gem has created a Twitter account dedicated to answering a very important question about video games: can you pet the dog? Excuse me while I go and pledge my allegiance to them for ever. 

Ok, now that’s done, let’s get down to the cold, hard science of how they measure whether dogs are pet-able or not (shut up, that’s a word). In their Twitter bio the Bestower of Pets and owner of the Twitter account states that “a manual button press resulting in visual representation of petting is required for affirmation”. So it doesn’t matter if your initial cutscene with the dog in question has you stroking their nogging: if there’s not a button you can press at any time to ruffle their fur, you can not pet the dog in the game. 

You can pet the dog in The Last of Us pic.twitter.com/zXImdiJmVqMarch 5, 2019

Games where the dogs can be petted include The Last of Us, Warioware: Touched, Assassin’s Creed 3, Far Cry New Dawn, and many, many more. Some of the games where you can’t pet the dog are The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, Fallout 4, and Super Mario Odyssey. That’s information everyone needs to know, but I’m especially disappointed in Super Mario Odyssey. You can put a heckin’ fedora on your shiba inu pup but you can’t pet him!? Must try harder. 

You may like
  • Puppy Park Nintendo's made me wait for a new Nintendogs, but now I don't have to – this cozy game is "a tiny dog hotel for pups"
  • Dogpile key are showing various dog breeds and all shapes and sizes framing the image with the Indie Spotlight logo in the top right-hand corner Dogpile is a roguelike deckbuilder with shades of Tetris and Balatro that has me trying to make the biggest dog
  • Sorry, the Fable reboot doesn't feature a dog companion, Playground lead confirms

Want more canine content? Here’s our own Sam Loveridge being bamboozled about why Far Cry New Dawn hates dogs so much, or just look below to find out how to get Timber in Far Cry New Dawn if you haven’t stumbled across him yet!

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
CATEGORIES
PC Gaming Xbox One PS4 Platforms Xbox PlayStation
Zoe Delahunty-Light
Zoe Delahunty-Light
Social Links Navigation
Former GamesRadar+ Staff

While here at GamesRadar, Zoe was a features writer and video presenter for us. She's since flown the coop and gone on to work at Eurogamer where she's a video producer, and also runs her own Twitch and YouTube channels. She specialises in huge open-world games, true crime, and lore deep-dives.

Read more
Puppy Park
Nintendo's made me wait for a new Nintendogs, but now I don't have to – this cozy game is "a tiny dog hotel for pups"
 
 
Dogpile key are showing various dog breeds and all shapes and sizes framing the image with the Indie Spotlight logo in the top right-hand corner
Dogpile is a roguelike deckbuilder with shades of Tetris and Balatro that has me trying to make the biggest dog
 
 
Sorry, the Fable reboot doesn't feature a dog companion, Playground lead confirms
 
 
Bad photoshop of Paws, a black and white cat wearing a pink ribbon, edited onto Jetpack Cat from Overwatch.
Overwatch fans flood the internet with edits of their own pets cosplaying as Jetpack Cat: "My cat is Jetpack Cat too"
 
 
The main couple in It Takes Two looking at fireworks in the distance with GamesRadar+'s Quiz badge in the corner.
Can you guess these iconic video game couples in our ultimate Valentine's Day quiz?
 
 
Image of a hand petting a Pokeball with Pikachu showing on a display screen.
This Pokemon Tamagotchi-style toy lets you pet Pikachu, and I need it to release outside of Japan
 
 
Latest in Games
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 support agent says "there's no balance team" at Arrowhead because "it's all a team effort"
 
 
Ghostwire Tokyo
Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami has been working on a new AAA action RPG for at least 1 year, and no one noticed
 
 
Key art for Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen showing Venasaur against a swirling green background, cropped for a header image
Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen have been on Switch for over a week, but many players are still stuck in Oak's Lab
 
 
Big Walk
"Complicated feelings on our end": Indie devs behind new Peak-like co-op understand you think it's friendslop
 
 
Marathon Introducing Sekiguchi agent Nona weaveworm
Marathon Introducing Sekiguchi contract walkthrough and how to find the Necrotic Sample and scan your shell
 
 
Ghost of Yotei Legends
How to start Ghost of Yotei Legends online co-op
 
 
Latest in News
A Na'vi draws a bow in Avatar: Fire and Ash
James Cameron says Avatar 4 is still "very likely", despite Fire and Ash making $870 million less than The Way of Water
 
 
A close-up of Grace talking with someone through glass in Resident Evil Requiem
Resident Evil Requiem actor says Capcom wanted "cinematic performances" to keep up with the technical side of the game
 
 
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator
Arnold Schwarzenegger says he'll be in the next Predator movie and a Conan the Barbarian sequel
 
 
Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Elijah Wood says he "wouldn't want anybody else to play Frodo", and now we're thinking he's in The Hunt for Gollum
 
 
Marathon assassin runner shell holding knife
Bungie doesn't want Marathon to repeat Destiny 2's vaulting controversy: "It doesn't matter when you join"
 
 
Slay the Spire 2
"Slay the Spire 2 has taken over his life":  Palworld CEO gets a telling off for playing too much of the deckbuilder
 
 
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. Ghostwire Tokyo
    1
    Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami has been working on a new AAA action RPG for at least 1 year after Microsoft closed his last studio, and no one noticed
  2. 2
    How to complete the Marathon Introducing Sekiguchi contract
  3. 3
    How to start Ghost of Yotei Legends online co-op
  4. 4
    Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen have been on Switch for over a week, but many players are still stuck in Oak's Lab trying to get shiny starters: "I'm going to cry"
  5. 5
    James Cameron says Avatar 4 is still "very likely", despite Fire and Ash making almost a billion dollars less than The Way of Water

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...