History Main / TheDogIsAnAlien

* The alien in ''Film/TheThing1982'' masquerades as a dog for a while.

* The DisneyChannel Original Movie ''Can Of Worms'', has the protagonist new sidekick be an alien talking dog.
* Stitch from ''LiloAndStitch'' pretends to be a dog despite looking more like a blue koala. According to the tie-in comics, however, it explains that one donor of his genetic composition was from an Earth puppy, so he was intentionally created to resemble one regardlessly.

* Stitch from ''LiloAndStitch'' pretends to be a dog despite looking more like a blue koala.

* ''"[[Comicbook/{{Runaways}} My dog's a [mystically cloaked] genetically engineered psychic dinosaur from the 87th century.]]"''

* ''"[[{{Runaways}} My dog's a [mystically cloaked] genetically engineered psychic dinosaur from the 87th century.]]"''

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* Princess Celestia's pet phoenix in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is a prankster and pretends to be a rather sickly parrot, much to Fluttershy's consternation.

* In ''IAmNumberFour'', [[spoiler:John/Number Four's dog Bernie Kosar shapeshifts into a more monstrous, distinctly more extraterrestrial creature (that still resembles a dog) known as a Chimera to pull a BigDamnHeroes, engaging another alien monster in combat and eventually killing it.]]

* Trillian's mice from ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' turn out to be aliens in disguise. So are all other mice, wild ones included, but Trillian's are specifically implied to be albino laboratory rodents, hence domesticated.

* The alien in ''Film/TheThing'' masquerades as a dog for a while.

Some sort of alien lifeform comes to Earth, and, to avoid attention from the {{MIB}}, disguises itself as a domestic animal, usually a dog. Sometimes the alien happens to already look like a dog, while others may transform themselves using VoluntaryShapeshifting or AppliedPhlebotinum.

The alien often finds itself adopted as a pet, usually at least somewhat willingly. After all, a family who is willing to provide food and shelter seems like a reasonable alternative to living on the streets avoiding the {{MIB}} and dog catchers, and the alien probably reasons that it is capable of escaping if it needs to.

This trope comes in both beneign and malevolent variants. The former tends to result in ABoyAndHisX.

* The alien in ''TheThing'' masquerades as a dog for a while.

* ''InvaderZim'': Grr disguises himself as Zim's pet dog. ... his disguise being a lame costume with a zipper and a tongue sticking out.

* Subverted in ''TheCatFromOuterSpace'', in which the alien looks exactly like a cat in his natural state and doesn't do much to pretend to be one except refrain from speaking. If the humans assume he's a cat, it's not his fault.

* Subverted in ''The Cat From Outer Space'', in which the alien looks exactly like a cat in his natural state and doesn't do much to pretend to be one except refrain from speaking. If the humans assume he's a cat, it's not his fault.

* Literal in {{Animorphs}}, where the Chee bonded the essence of their Pemalite masters to wolves to create dogs.

* Princess Celestia's pet phoenix in ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is a prankster and pretends to be a rather sickly parrot, much to Fluttershy's consternation.

* {{ALF}} did this from time to time, with varying degrees of success. For instance, on one occaision, he was seen by a hobo who thought he was a kangaroo... and promptly leapt off the train they were riding.

* In ''{{Supernatural}}'' there are {{Skinwalker}}s who can take the form of a dog. One of them becomes attached to the family he lives with.

* Frank the Pug from ''MenInBlack''. The AnimatedSeries revealed that under his dog suit he looks like a green dog. Also he is apparently prone to dog like behavior and it's not part of the disguise.

* In JohnScalzi's ''Agent to the Stars'', the gelatinous Blob-like alien the protagonist meets eventually takes on the form of a dog in order to come off a more appealing to humans.

* ''TheIncredibleHercules'', we find out that [[spoiler:Kirby, the coyote pup that Amadeus Cho had adopted, had been long-replaced by a [[{{Shapeshifter}} Skrull]] imposter. While the real coyote was safe and unharmed, the coyote had accompanied Cho for the better part of a year before TheReveal.]]