Is the viral selfie of the seven dogs walking home together in China a real photo? No, that's not true: The picture was likely generated by AI. AI detection results from two tools pointed to AI generation, as did a key detail in the image itself: dogs appearing to take a selfie -- something real dogs cannot do.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here and here) published on X on March 23, 2026. It opened:
Why buy one dog when you can have 7.
The post shared an image featuring seven dogs. This is what the picture looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: screenshot of post by @ChrisyFrmBLOCKS on X.)
The image reviewed in this fact check has been online at least since March 19, 2026 (archived here), when it was posted on X under the caption consisting of the #7doge hashtag and a lengthy combination of letters and digits. That appeared to be a token (archived here)-- a digital asset built on an existing blockchain, per Investopedia (archived here) -- on one of the platforms for trading memecoins.
On March 23, 2026, the image appeared in the South China Morning Post's article (archived here) published under the title:
Heartwarming tale of 7 dogs' escape from captivity in China garners 230 million views.
The article showed the image in question side by side with the footage without identifying it as AI-generated and described its source as WeChat.
The next day, March 24, 2026, Daily Mail (archived here) republished the image in a similar article but said that it was made by AI. It largely repeated the South China Morning Post's narrative about the 7 dogs' escape, although that version of the events was disputed (archived here) by some users on the internet.
The most obvious sign casting doubts on the authenticity of the image was its format: a selfie. Unlike humans, dogs are not generally known for being able to hold a camera at arm's length.
AI detection tool Hive Moderation said it was 74.1% likely that the image was generated using AI:
(Image source: Hive Moderation.)
AI detection tool Sightengine concluded that there was a 99% chance the image was AI-generated:
(Image source: Sightengine.)
A reverse image search led to a cropped variation of the "selfie" (archived here and here) in which the pets were seen in the same poses, all looking directly into the lens simultaneously -- unnatural poses for animals. The background, however, was different, and that further cast doubt on the authenticity of the photo:
(Image source: post of @obibiz.socialmedia on YouTube.)
While the two tools returned different confidence levels, both pointed toward AI generation.
