History Main / TheDogIsAnAlien

* Stitch from ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' pretends to be a dog despite looking more like a blue koala (even when he [[RetractableAppendages hides away]] the [[MultiArmedAndDangerous second set of arms]], spines, and antenna). According to the tie-in comics, however, it explains that one donor of his genetic composition was from an Earth puppy, so he should have somewhat resembled one. It's not very effective. The universal reaction on seeing him is "You're sure it's a dog?" Basically, he only passes because no-one can come up with any alternatives (and RuleOfFunny).

* ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': Rocket claims that [[ComicBook/CarolDanvers Captain Marvel's]] cat Chewie is a rare and dangerous alien species called a flerken. [[spoiler:Turns out he's right.]]
* In ''ComicBook/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 Skrull coyote had accompanied Cho for the better part of a year before TheReveal.]]

* A Budweiser commercial opens with a dog coming out of a house. It runs to the middle of nowhere and gets taken on board an alien ship. The ship takes the dog to the alien leader's quarters on another planet, where the dog presses a button on its collar and reveals that it is actually an alien in disguise. What did he learn on Earth? "WAZZAAAAAP!"

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1442305941041974500
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* ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': Rocket claims that [[ComicBook/CarolDanvers Captain Marvel's]] cat Chewie is a rare and dangerous alien species called a flerken. [[spoiler:Turns out he's right.]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* The Creator/DisneyChannel Original Movie ''Can of Worms'' has the protagonist's new sidekick be an alien talking dog.

* In the short story, "Puppet Show", by Creator/FredricBrown, an old prospector brings a very ugly RubberForeheadAlien out of the wilderness on muleback, and the guest is questioned by the military. After a bit of subterfuge, it turns out that the guest is a robot, and the prospector declares himself to be the real alien. The interrogator expresses relief that the master race of the galaxy looks human after all... at which point, the prospector reveals itself to be a robot as well, and the ''mule'' asks what a "master race" is and why its appearance should matter.
* Trillian's mice from ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1'' 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.
* In {{Creator/Dean Koontz}}'s horror/screwball comedy novel ''Literature/TickTock'', Del's dog is an alien who has been sent to watch over her. He's very intelligent, but still has the playful personality of a dog.
* In Creator/DickKingSmith's book ''Harriet's Hare'', the titular hare is an alien from the planet Pars who can shapeshift into apparently anything he wishes; his default form is a hare, but he mentions that he could have chosen the form of a tiger if he wished, and he occasionally turns into birds such as a sparrow or a goldfinch so that he can visit his human friend Harriet in her room.

* In ''Turning Point'', the first book of Lisanne Norman's ''Literature/SholanAlliance'', the CatFolk Kusac hides his sapience by pretending to be one of the local felines. Carrie then takes him into her home on account of his injuries.

* Series/{{Alf}} does this from time to time, with varying degrees of success. For instance, on one occasion, he is seen by a hobo who thought he was a kangaroo... and promptly leaps off the train they were riding.

* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': GIR disguises himself as Zim's pet dog...[[PaperThinDisguise by wearing a green costume with a visible zipper]]. He rarely even bothers going on all fours. It's arguably still better than [[HughMann Zim's human disguise]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s Nibbler is a bit of an odd example as everyone knows he's an alien. What they don't know is that he's a member of an incredibly advanced alien race. And he can talk.
* ''WesternAnimation/CounterfeitCat'' is a show about the adventures of Gark, a blue tentacled alien who disguises himself as a cat and lives with an ordinary cat named Max.

* In ''Film/{{Phantoms}}'', a gelatinous being can send out autonomous drones to do tasks. One of these is a white dog that fools soldiers and gets close enough to send out tentacles and kill them. Later, the dog is used to keep tabs on the surviving humans.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In one episode, the crew of the Enterprise suspect a shapeshifting alien monster to have [[KillAndReplace killed and impersonated]] a member of a remote science station. The two humanoid suspects (one of them Klingon) are eventually cleared by lab tests, but in a horrifying twist the dog from the station that [[TheDogWasTheMastermind nobody paid any mind to]] is revealed to be the alien, and it almost devours Geordi to take his form.

The latter variant raises some questions as to why the alien wouldn't choose to disguise itself as a human, giving itself far more freedom within human society. However, given that their disguise may not be perfect, or that they may be unfamiliar with human social norms, this may be a sensible decision. A dog that acts or looks a little bit odd is less likely to attract attention than a human who acts strangely or [[UncannyValley looks creepy]].

* UpToEleven in ''Film/GoodBoy'', where it turns out ''every'' dog on Earth is actually an alien from another planet, though many have gone native and forgotten they were originally sent to conquer Earth.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans:'' [[{{Animorphism}} Beast Boy]] can turn into a [[MorphicResonance green]] version of any animal. In one episode, he gets captured in dog form by an alien looking for his missing pet. Meanwhile, the other Titans have found the alien dog and believe that Beast Boy has somehow become {{Shapeshifter Mode Lock}}ed. [[spoiler:The alien dog is [[ForTheLulz so amused]] that he takes his time before [[SapientAllAlong telling them the truth]]]].

* ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': The Kree and the Skrulls alike insist on calling Goose (see above) the tabby cat a "Flerken", and are downright terrified of her, which the heroes find hilarious. [[spoiler:And just like in the comics, turns out, the aliens are right.]]

* Shirogane from ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' is a cat [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent ayakashi]] that sometimes alters his [[SleepModeSize smaller form]] to look like a regular stray cat that isn't InvisibleToNormals. Despite regular cats being drawn in a much more realistic style, only Lu notices the difference. At first this was to deter Soga from attacking him as he hangs around Hokusai High School, but he also enjoys the attention and treats the students give him (so long as he can avoid the enormous English teacher's {{Bear Hug}}s). Ironically, he doesn't use this form to become a pet: At first he stays at the Kazamaki household, where both residents knew his true form. Later on, he moves into Suzu's house, and chooses to simply remain invisible to the other residents.

* Shirogane from ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' is a cat [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent ayakashi]] that sometimes alters his [[SleepModeSize smaller form]] to look like a regular stray cat that isn't InvisibleToNormals. At first this was to deter Soga from attacking him as he hangs around Hokusai High School, but he also enjoys the attention and treats the students give him (so long as he can avoid the enormous English teacher's {{Bear Hug}}s). Ironically, he doesn't use this form to become a pet: At first he stays at the Kazamaki household, where both residents knew his true form. Later on, he moves into Suzu's house, and chooses to simply remain invisible to the other residents.

* ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': The aliens in the movie insist on calling Goose (see above) the tabby cat a "Flerken", and are downright terrified of her, which the heroes find hilarious. [[spoiler:And just like in the comics, turns out, the aliens are right.]]

* Frank the Pug from ''Film/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.

Some sort of alien lifeform comes to Earth, and, to avoid attention from TheMenInBlack, 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.

* Stitch from ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'' pretends to be a dog despite looking more like a blue koala (even when he [[RetractableAppendages hides away]] the [[MultiArmedAndDangerous second set of arms]], spines, and antenna). According to the tie-in comics, however, it explains that one donor of his genetic composition was from an Earth puppy, so he should have somewhat resembled one. It's not very effective. The universal reaction on seeing him is "You're sure it's a dog?" Basically, he only passes because no-one can come up with any alternatives (and RuleOfFunny).

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans:'' [[{{Animorphism}} Beast Boy]] can turn into a [[MorphicResonance green]] version of any animal. In one episode, he gets captured in dog form by an alien looking for his missing pet. Meanwhile, the other Titans have found the alien dog and believe that Beast Boy has somehow become {{Shapeshifter Mode Lock}}ed. [[spoiler:The alien dog is [[ForTheLulz so amused]] that he takes his time before [[TalkingAnimal telling them the truth]]]].

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

Compare AlienAnimals, where an entire ''species'' of Earth animal are and have always secretly been aliens.

* ComicBook/KryptoTheSuperdog is (usually) a dog from Kryptonian that is passable as an earth native dog when he's not flying around or showing off his super strength. During the time when he was merely constructed to be a canine with Kryptonian like powers he still fit as he spent most of his time passing as a normal pet dog.

* ''Comicbook/{{Runaways}}'': "My dog's a [mystically cloaked] genetically engineered psychic dinosaur from the 87th century."
* [[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Rocket]] claims that [[ComicBook/CarolDanvers Captain Marvel's]] cat Chewie is a rare and dangerous alien species called a flerken. [[spoiler:Turns out he's right.]]

* Stitch from ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'' pretends to be a dog despite looking more like a blue koala (even when he [[RetractableAppendages hides away]] the [[MultiArmedAndDangerous second set of arms]], spines, and antenna). 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 regardless. It's not very effective. The universal reaction on seeing him is "You're sure it's a dog?" Basically, he only passes because no-one can come up with any alternatives (and RuleOfFunny).

* ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': The aliens in the movie insist on calling Goose the tabby cat a "Flerken", and are downright terrified of her, which the heroes find hilarious. [[spoiler:Turns out, the aliens are right.]]

* Frank the Pug from ''Film/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 ''Film/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.]]

* In ''Film/{{Phantoms}}'', a gelatinous being can send out autonomous drones to do tasks. One of these is a white dog that fools soldiers and gets close enough to send out tentacles and kill them. Later, the dog is used to keep tabs on the surviving humans.
* In ''Film/TheHidden'', a parasitic alien creature hides in other beings and uses them. It temporarily uses a dog, but (as in the original "Who Goes There?") it wants to be a man, not a dog.

* ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': The aliens in the movie insist on calling Goose the tabby cat a "Flerken", and are downright terrified of her, which the heroes find hilarious. [[spoiler:Turns out, the aliens are right.]]

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In one episode, the crew of the Enterprise suspect a shapeshifting alien monster to have [[KillAndReplace killed and impersonated]] a member of a remote science station. The two humanoid suspects (one of them Klingon) are eventually cleared by lab tests, but in a horrifying twist the dog from the station that [[TheDogWasTheMastermind nobody paid any mind to]] is revealed to be the alien, and it almost devours Geordi to take his form.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor the Tenth Doctor is hunting for a Zygon which, as it turns out, is disguised not as Queen Elizabeth the First, but as the horse that she and the Doctor were riding. Later the trope is subverted, when the Doctor briefly mistakes a mundane rabbit for the Zygon's new disguise.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* [[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Rocket]] claims that [[ComicBook/MsMarvel Captain Marvel's]] cat Chewie is a rare and dangerous alien species called a flerken. [[spoiler:Turns out he's right.]]

* ComicBook/KryptoTheSuperdog is (usually) a dog of Kryptonian that is passable as an earth native dog when he's not flying around or showing off his super strength. During the time when he was merely constructed to be a canine with Kryptonian like powers he still fit as he spent most of his time passing as a pet dog.
* ''ComicBook/RelativeHeroes'': Cameron treats his potted plant as a pet/CompanionCube and the thing is eventually revealed to be an Es (a type of shapeshifing alien) advance scout for the now occurring invasion, [[spoiler:as for that matter is Cameron]].

%%* ComicBook/KryptoTheSuperdog