After no one showed up for a puppy's first birthday party strangers on the Internet stepped in
"I love how they posted the flyers at different heights. One for the dogs and one for the humans."

Party of one for dog's birthday.
Decades after the trend first emerged, people are still debating whether dog birthday parties are cool or "too extra." One woman on TikTok threw her tiny one-year-old puppy, Angel, a party and claimed no one came. In response, she received nearly 30,000 comments from people expressing their sadness that such an adorable puppy looked so distraught. They followed up with thousands of birthday wishes and heart emojis. (Turns out that Angel, who's a Brussels Griffon, has over 700,000 followers and her own manager, so she seems to be doing okay.)
Three dogs wearing party hats.
Photo by Pawtography Perth on Unsplash
Tons of people online have opinions about whether hound parties should even exist. An OP on Quora asked, "Why do pet owners throw birthday parties for their pets?" One commenter kept it simple: "Because it’s fun. That’s why. Dogs have about the same mental functioning as a toddler when it comes to navigating interactions with human beings. Do you think a baby has any clue what’s going on when you throw a 1st birthday party? Probably not, but you can see it brings them joy and you enjoy it too, so why not?"
@angelpawspups Nobody came to his birthday 😞💔🎂 #sad #sadvideo #dog #dogparty #birthday #dogbirthday #puppy #brusselsgriffon
As for the logistics of it all, in the subreddit r/dogs, a Redditor posted: "Dog birthday party help: We adopted our good boy 3 years ago next week and we want to have a little party in our backyard with neighborhood dogs. Any tips or ideas on how to make it fun and keep it safe/contained?"
A commenter had excellent advice as to only having well-behaved dogs in attendance: "Hand out invitations with your pup in tow, to neighbors as they walk their dogs, and assess any behavioral incompatibilities before even mentioning anything."
And this wisdom was aimed at helping alleviate a dog-mob mentality when it came to treats: "You could do goodie bags for people to take as they leave, tied in a poop bag."
@lelepons Happy Birthday my baby Toby 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹
While some seemed adverse to the idea, more and more people are embracing their canine hoe-downs, whether it's an actual birthday or a "gotcha" day, for those lucky rescue animals out there. Recently, in the subreddit r/aww, someone posted a flyer of a puppy in a red party hat, with the caption, "Wuff, wuff, wuff, arf, woof, woof, ruff." A date and time followed by more woofs, arfs, and ruffs, then "nom nom (cake!) Come! Bark less…Maybe." As someone who's fluent in "dog," I can tell you that's a solid invite to what sounds like an off-the-chain party.
This post already has over 50,000 upvotes and nearly a thousand comments. Even more exciting, people actually went to the party and posted some photos in the Reddit thread. An amazing time seemed to be had by all!
Happy Birthday GIFGiphy
Days before the event, one eagle-eyed viewer had a compliment for the flyer itself. "I love how they posted the flyers at different heights. One for the dogs and one for the humans."
Another viewer had excellent advice for those searching for a companion on say, Tinder: "Are you single? I have a strong vibe if you go you are going to meet someone that you will really want to know." Not sure if they meant a dog-friend or a human-companion, but, either way, hopefully it all panned out.