Probably a Doghouse, Though I'm Not Sure Since There's No Dog Around

About

Probably a Doghouse, Though I'm Not Sure Since There's No Dog Around is a line of dialogue from the 1999 video game Silent Hill that is shown when the player interacts with an empty dog house. In 2010, a screenshot of the player reading the dialogue while a dog-like Groaner enemy jumps toward him was posted online, gaining viral spread and inspiring memes referencing it over the following years, the dialogue becoming a notable catchphrase.

Origin

On July 27th, 2010, Bob's House of Video Games^[1] uploaded an anonymously submitted screenshot from Silent Hill where the player character, Harry, is interacting with a dog house, prompting the dialogue, "Probably a doghouse, though I'm not sure since there's no dog around." At the same time, a Groaner enemy, which resembles a dog, can be seen in mid-air lunging at him, contradicting the dialogue (shown below). This is the earliest known upload of the image.

On September 4th, Deviant Art^[2] user Sweekun posted a demotivational poster using the meme, garnering over 1,000 views and 20 favorites in 12 years (shown below). This is the earliest known meme to use the image.

Spread

On October 3rd, 2010, the image was reuploaded to /r/gaming,^[3] garnering over 630 upvotes in 12 years. On January 13th, 2011, a user of the Speed Demo Archives^[4] forum posted a recreation of the meme to a thread for funny video game images. On December 11th, 2016, a NeoGaf^[5] user posted a photoshop of The Last Guardian to the forum referencing the meme. On May 30th, 2020, Twitter^[6] user @luulubuu posted a version of the meme referencing Cruella's backstory about her dad being killed by Dalmatians from the 2021 Cruella movie, garnering over 20,000 likes before it was deleted (shown below, left). On October 2nd, Twitter^[7] user @999deaddraculas posted a redraw of the scene, garnering over 6,000 likes and 1,900 retweets in two years (shown below, right).

On July 13th, 2021, Facebook^[8] user Miau Miau Play posted a 360-degree interactive version of the meme, garnering over 31,000 shares and 5,500 reactions in a year. It was shared by the official Silent Hill: Revelation 3D Facebook^[9] page that day (shown below).

On October 4th, 2021, Twitter^[10] gimmick account @CanYouPetTheDog posted a video recreation of the meme, captioned, "You cannot pet the dog in Silent Hill," garnering over 17,000 retweets and 79,000 likes in a year (shown below). The tweet was screenshotted and posted by Instagram^[11] user howitfeelstochewfivegum on October 26th, garnering over 4,900 likes in a year.

You cannot pet the dog in Silent Hill pic.twitter.com/ln0bCFryzf

— Can You Pet the Dog? (@CanYouPetTheDog) October 4, 2021

On August 29th, 2022, Tumblr^[12] user silent-hilton posted a photoshop of the meme replacing the dog with the Gougar garnering over 40 notes in a day (shown below).

Template

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References