Who's A Good Boy?

About

Who's a Good Boy? is a rhetorical question asked to dogs. The implication behind the question, which the dog does not have the capacity to answer, that the dog being asked is the "good boy." Online, the question is frequently discussed from the dog's perspective, who is left to wonder the answer.

Origin

While the question has been asked offline, the earliest known iteration of the question appeared in a satirical article on the humor website The Onion.^[1] On December 16th, 2000, The Onion published an article entitled "Nation's Dog Owners Demand To Know Who's A Good Boy." The lead paragraph of the article reads:

"Bearing facial expressions ranging from goofy to adoring, dog owners from across the U.S. gathered in the nation's capital Monday, demanding to know who's a good boy."

Spread

On February 23rd, 2015, Twitter^[4] user @PokemonyeWest tweeted a photograph of a dog with its paw on a table and the caption, "'Enough is enough Stephanie. I need to know who's a good boy. My patience is worn thin.'" The post (shown below) received more than 2,600 retweets and 4,300 likes in three years.

On December 16th, 2016, Redditor^[6] Hilltopchill posted a picture of a dog in a sunbeam with the caption thread title "And then God said: 'Who's a good boy.'" The post (shown below, left) received more than 71,000 points (90% upvoted) and 500 comments.

On July 16th, 2017, Redditor ^[3] TuchComplex launched the Whosagoodboy subreddit. In less than one year, the subreddit has more than 7,800 subscribers.

On July 22nd, Urban Dictionary ^[2] user Joloxsa Xenax defined the question. The post (shown below, center) reads, "The one singular question that dogs still have to this day. Because Who is the good boy? Am I the good boy? Is it you? Yes you the one reading this? You may be the good boy after all! But we will never know…"

Several months later, on February 10th, 2018, Instagram ^[5] posted an image of a dog looking at the ocean and the caption "'Who's a good boy?!' 'I don't know anymore George.'" The post (shown below, right) received more than 100,000 likes.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References