Dogs in Video Games? The game-shaming Twitter account "Can You Pet The Dog?"

Over the past few years, many developers have patched their games to appease Twitter's harsh judgment, but Bethesda was unmoved. So, as modders have done with Bethesda games since the dawn of time, one modder took matters into his own hands. Behold:

Pet The Dogs - Animations is a mod that allows you to stoop down and scratch your favorite dog's ears. There are three different animations depending on the position of the friendly dog (keyword: friendly - don't try this on an angry wolf). You can pet your dog whether you are standing, sitting or lying down. Lovely.

The mods recommend that you face your dog exactly squarely. Otherwise, the animations may look a bit odd ("I am not an animator, so these animations are not perfect," says the page for this mod on Nexus Mods). Also, the animations are designed for third-person view, not first-person. Also, before you start showing affection to your canine companion, you need to make sure you don't have any weapons or prepared spells in your hands; petting a dog in Skyrim is a precision act; you can't pet a dog in the same way you pet a dog in the same way you pet a canine in the same way you pet a dog in a dog park.

This mod requires several other mods to be installed, such as Dynamic Animation Replacer (this mod requires Skyrim Script Extender and Address Library for SKSE Plugins (to use this mod, Skyrim Script Extender and Address Library for SKSE Plugins are required).

Pet the Dogs - Animations has a FAQ that states that this mod cannot pet other creatures such as chickens, cars, horses, guards, or jars. You can only pet the dog. But isn't that enough?