We tend to think of silly Internet and photo memes as being strictly a human pastime, but is it possible that our pets, in an attempt to further increase their influence over online culture, have decided to get in on the act? The answer may be yes, since after a pair of Shiba Inu captured our hearts by squeezing themselves into narrow garden spaces, this member of the breed’s domestic rival, the Akita dog, is getting in on the trend with a bit of Tetris-style contortionism as he pops out from a garden wall.

Pet lovers in Japan are more or less equally enamored with Akita dogs and Shiba Inu, which must be a little vexing for the former. After all, Akita have proven their bravery and loyalty in some truly impressive ways, so what more do they have to do to be decisively judged as superior to those silly Shiba?

But while we can understand their frustration, this Akita pup seems to have taken his desire to pull ahead in the neck-and-neck popularity contest a little too literally.

https://twitter.com/onodesu0223/status/642247354590990336

After spotting and snapping a picture of the dog, Japanese Twitter user @onodesu0223 deemed him “Mind-numbingly adorable,” and in constantly cuteness-craving Japan, it didn’t take long for others to chime in online with comments of their own.

“I want to give him a ‘coochy-coo’ tickle on his nose!”

“What a little angel (*´∀｀)”

“I want to pet the little guy!”

“He really wants to see what’s going on on the other side of that wall.”

“Is there some sort of trend in the dog world that they’re all sticking their heads out of narrow spaces?”

If that last one turns out to be true, we can’t wait to see Japan’s Kawakami dogs hop on the bandwagon.

Source: Hamster Sokuho, Twitter/@onodesu0223