Pretty much everyone has lived through moments where things don’t turn out how you’d planned or hoped. Well, it happens. Maybe you’ve had a tough day, a challenging week, or even a whole hard month. If that’s the case, you’re in great need of some uplifting pictures to see that it’s not all bad.

There’s nothing like a dose of cuteness to ease your daily troubles and help you get through the week. That’s why we at Bored Panda have combed the web and collected some of the most adorable and charming pictures of our beloved animals to brighten your day. Get ready to witness how our four-legged friends make our lives generally better by showing us love and kindness wherever we go.

So sit back, relax and enjoy the wave of positive emotions that comes with this list. Continue scrolling, upvote the ones that made you smile the widest, and share your thoughts about them in the comment section below!

Psst! If you’re in the mood for even more wholesome pics, be sure to check out our previous posts about furry canines right here and here.

#1 Somewhere In Heaven There’s A Black And White Dog Taking Care Of Seven Golden Lab Puppies

Daisy the dog lost all seven of her puppies in a barn fire at the end of February, and wasn’t the same afterwards, spending most of her days going to the remains of the barn to look for them. Her owner posted a desperate appeal on Facebook, asking if anyone had puppies she could foster. The next day, an owner of eight orphaned puppies contacted her, and Daisy took to caring for them straight away

Image credits: Daisy Woodruff

#2 It’s A Good Day

Image credits: VerbotenPublish

#3 My Son Always Texts To Say He’s On His Way Home. I Open The Door, Letting His 17-Year-Old Cat, And 16-Year-Old Dog Know That He’s On His Way. This Is Them Waiting For Him

Thought it was adorable and wanted to share.

Image credits: JonesMommy

No wonder people love animals. There’s plenty of evidence suggesting our adorable critters give us comfort, reduce stress, encourage exercise, and help us forget our everyday troubles. Not to mention that sharing our lives with such great companions makes us feel far less lonely and works miracles for our mental wellbeing. 

Today, there are very few things people share in common as much as the love of our four-legged friends. According to a poll by YouGov, 69 percent of American adults have at least one pet in their home, and it seems that dogs, cats, and fish are the most common choice of pets. 

Moreover, these animals are extremely cherished by their owners. The vast majority, 88 percent to be exact, see them as members of their family. More than a half of the respondents allow them to sleep in their own beds, plan to buy them holiday presents, and 50 percent revealed letting their pets lick their faces. 

#4 I Haven’t Seen My Dog In A Few Days, This Was His Reaction For 5 Minutes Straight

Image credits: jaytavira

#5 I Think Someone Has A Crush On My Christmas Light Decoration

Image credits: cyyclist

#6 I’m Recovering From Anorexia But My Cat Stopped Eating… Finally Worked Out That She Will Only Eat When I Do. A Very Good Reason To Keep Eating

Image credits: moonchild_86

When it comes to the main reasons Americans decide to get a furry house friend in the first place, having company, providing a nice home, and hoping they would improve their mental health were some of the top ones. Plus, more than a third mentioned they got a pet because their partner or family member simply wanted one. 

While we appreciate the joy animals bring into our lives, we catch ourselves wondering: how did we get the pets we have? Although pets have adjusted to us, our behaviors, and our emotions, it was not always like that. 

#7 I Rescued A Stray Cat In My Neighborhood. At Night His Brother Would Come To Visit Him. I Really Had No Other Options

Image credits: JDeebs

#8 Stray Doggo Interrupts Street Performance In Turkey To Help The Actor Who Was Pretending To Be Hurt. What A Pure Heart

Image credits: tilltheend0ftime

#9 When One Act Of Kindness Creates A Lifelong Friendship

Image credits: plebposter

To find out how the domestication of animals works, we reached out to Lee Dugatkin, Ph.D., an evolutionary biologist and a historian of science at the University of Louisville. “Ever wonder how our ancestors turned wild animals into the pets that play such an important part in our everyday life? An experiment in Russia, now in its 62nd year, is helping us understand,” he told Bored Panda. 

“In the late 1950s, Dmitry Belyaev, a brilliant Russian geneticist, came up with an idea for how to replay the evolutionary process that led to the domestication of dogs from wolves, but sped up and using foxes instead of wolves,” he explained. The experiment that began in 1960 took place in Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia.

Dugatkin noted that this groundbreaking project continues to this day “under the watchful guidance of Belyaev’s student, Lyudmila Trut,” who recently celebrated her 88th birthday. “Each year, she and her team test hundreds of foxes, selecting only the tamest —the most prosocial toward humans—to parent the next generation.”

#10 This Mare Lost Her Foal And Then, Two Days Later, This Foal Lost Its Mother. Here They Are An Hour After Meeting

Image credits: fenwai

#11 Colorado Man Reunited With His Donkey, Ennis, After Fire Swept Through His Town

Image credits: BarefootUnicorn

#12 This Mother Cat Has Taken In An Abandoned Baby Possum

My neighbor’s black cat had kittens and they found a baby possum on their deck that must have fallen off of its mom. The mama cat took it in as one of her kittens, but she doesn’t understand why this little funny kitten hangs on her all the time. At this point in time we need to be more like the animals, take care of each other in their time of need.

#13 This Veterinarian Has A Comfort-Dog Assistant That Helps Sick Patients Know That Everything Will Be Alright

Image credits: W0LFPAW

Dugatkin and Trut tell the whole story of this experiment in their book How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog): Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution, which is full of science, political intrigue, and tales of love. “In a nutshell, what the Russian team has done is create domesticated foxes that will lick your ears and melt your hearts with their devotion and love,” he explained.  

It’s hard to imagine that somewhere in the beautiful yet harsh Siberia, you would be able to find furry foxes that are as friendly as our beloved canines. “Incredibly, even though Lyudmila and her colleagues select the parents of each generation strictly on how behaviorally tame foxes are, their domesticated foxes look eerily like dogs,” Dugatkin added. “Within a decade (ten fox generations), some of the foxes had floppy ears and curly tails.” 

#14 Snapped This Pic Of This Huge Pitbull And His Pooh Bear While I Was Out Running Errands This Morning. So Adorable

Image credits: anders1318

#15 Rejected From Police Training For Being ‘Too Friendly’

Image credits: ElkShot5082

#16 My Foster Dog Had Never Been Indoors Before. This Is Her First Nap, On A Bed, In A Home

Sundae was taken from a dog hoarding situation — one man had 16 dogs (and a deceased dog’s body) in his backyard. The dogs had access only to a junk-filled backyard and a garage for shelter. We’ve had her for about a week and you would never know that she’s never been an indoor dog before. She’s totally potty trained, incredibly gentle and she’s very polite indoors. She loves to sleep as close as possible to me in bed — I think she’s just making up for 8ish years of zero affection.

Image credits: mugglequeen

“By the end of the second decade, they had mottled fur patterns and dog-like faces and bodies. And these foxes are as good as dogs at following human gaze,” the evolutionary biologist said. What makes this experiment particularly fascinating is that domestication of certain animal species took thousands of years, and this experiment managed to have surprising results in just a few decades. 

#17 My Boy Just Had A Successful Surgery And Is Now Cancer Free

Image credits: sciencemint

#18 We Fed Our Backyard Squirrel Once. Meet Frankie At Our Backyard Door Waiting For More Nuts

Image credits: chebstr

#19 My Dad Was Dealing With A Lot Of Stress, So We Decided To Get Him A Dog To See If It Would Help. Judging By The Cuddle Puddle, Mission Accomplished

Image credits: Syntra44

#20 He Guarded A Bird With Broken Wing Under My Truck For Four Days Before It Could Fly Off

Had to bring them both food and water because he refused to leave its side day and night, very proud of him

Image credits: MasturbatingMiles

Dugatkin continued: “If all of that were not enough to make us humans fall head-over-heels for these remarkable creatures, they also laugh. Indeed, a number of the vocalizations the domesticated foxes make are more similar to human laughs than the sounds produced by any other species,” he told Bored Panda. 

He concluded by saying that all of these incredible changes toward a pet-like animal “occurred in mere sixty-plus years. Who knows what changes lay in store as the experiment steams into its seventh decade?”

#21 Two Years And Tons Of Walks Later, Shiloh Has Reached Her Target Weight

Image credits: mikerich15

#22 This Tiny Fox Has Been Visiting Our Garden Every Day And Wants To Be Friends

Image credits: Badders00

#23 The Hospital Let My Dog Stay With Me After A Brain Surgery

Image credits: augustusglooop

#24 Sweet Rat

Image credits: Carli_Elaine

#25 She Saw The Kids Playing On It And Now She Meows Until You Rock Her

Image credits: rc1honda

#26 Random Girl At Farmer’s Market Seduces My Partner In Front Of My Very Eyes

Image credits: thelasttrashbender

#27 An Autistic Boy, Who Can’t Be Touched, Connects With A Service Dog, As His Mom Bursts Into Tears Of Hope And Joy

I’m not sure why, but people still ask us why we place service dogs with children sometimes. Let me help you understand, from a momma who knows first hand:

See this moment? I’ve never experienced a moment like this.

This picture was taken near the end of the day after my autistic five-year-old was finally able to sit down with his new Service Dog Tornado. He flew across the entire ocean, stopped in multiple states, and uprooted his entire routine to travel the globe for this. He was so overwhelmed through the day that he had to leave to take a break for a couple hours before he could come back. This boy is the strongest child I have ever met; he has faced countless rude and ignorant adults and children who do not understand him, who have hurt him, and who have not valued him because he is different. This picture captures the face of a mother who saw her child, who she can’t hug, wash, dress, snuggle and touch freely lay on his new Service dog of his own free will, with a purposeful unspoken attachment. This is the face of a mom who has seen her son experience countless failed social interactions on the playground in an attempt to have a friend. Any friend. Any kind of connection. She has sat with her son while he has cried at night for months because he has no consistent connections outside of the family no matter how hard he tries and no matter what he works hard on in his Autism therapies. It doesn’t transfer to the natural occurring world for him. And now she is sitting behind her son silently watching this moment, with the air sucked from her lungs, and no words to say.

Holding her mouth and silently crying because she doesn’t want to distract him from the moment and break him away from a pure, honest, and truly fulfilling moment for her son of his own free will. This is truly magic. Words cannot explain it.

I have cried so many times for this boy, but this is the very first time I have cried for a reason like this.

It’s new, it’s painful, it’s wonderful, and it’s grateful. I will always stand behind this boy (probably still crying ) but I am grateful that he will have Tornado to stand beside him. The 4 Paws magic is real. The wait is long, but this moment right here makes it worth every moment of waiting. It’s worth every fight for services for my son, every diagnosis, every new provider, every dollar spent, every paper filled out, every school meeting, every shed tear, every step forward, every step back, and every wonder of the unknown future. Somehow because of this- because of Tornado- I know everything will be okay.

Image credits: 4 Paws For Ability

#28 I Got My Pup A Matching Chair So He Would Stop Stealing Mine. Needless To Say, He’s Very Pleased

Image credits: GeneticCoder23

#29 Jellybean Does Not Like The Cone Of Shame. He Tolerates The Flower Of Protection

Image credits: pokitgiraffe

#30 My Dad Was Worried My Deafblind Dog Wouldn’t Recognize Him After A Year Of Quarantine But I Think She Did

Image credits: haydenkristal

#31 A Goat Followed My Friend Home From Work

Image credits: Fuzzie8

#32 Some Images Require No Title, Just A Smile

Image credits: CountrymanR60

#33 Boss Said We Could Have Office Pupper Fridays

Image credits: Pristine_Principle_9

#34 10 Days Ago, Somebody Poisoned My 11-Year-Old Fluffball Leon In My Own Garden

Against all odds, he made it through and is back home recovering to cause trouble for a while longer. The veterinarian called him a miracle. So proud of you my grumpy old kitty

Image credits: Fluffy_Dragonfly_

#35 Guy Spots The Most Adorable Little Squirrels Napping Just Outside His Window

Image credits: krisstijan

#36 Our Cat Had Kittens 2 Days After We Had A Baby. This Kitten Climbs Into The Lounger With Her Whenever He Has The Chance. I Think These Two Were Destined To Be Best Buds

Image credits: Hoot2687

#37 Turbo’s Smile Always Makes Me Smile. This Was His Prosthetic Fitting Day

Image credits: OrthoPets-VOP

#38 My Little Man Is Cancer Free

Image credits: natatatcatr

#39 My Local Wildlife Shelter Had One Of Their Soft Release Raccoons Manage To Sneak Over The Fence And Into The Deer Pen. Adorableness Ensued

Image credits: th3dj3n1gm4

#40 “You Saved My Life. I Knew I Was Going To Die At That Shelter, But You Saved Me Today” – Dog, Saved From Euthanasia, Thanks His Savior

Image credits: Schenley Hutson Kirk

#41 My Dad Passed Away 2 Days Ago And Was Inseparable From His Cat. He Refuses To Leave This Spot Where He Can See The Driveway. He’s Waiting For My Dad To Get Home

Image credits: octokit

#42 Hooman, This Is My Son

Image credits: umakira

#43 This Duck Used To Come To My Porch For Food. Recently, She Brought Her Babies. I’ve Been Watching Them Grow Up

Image credits: Templar_1337

#44 14-Years-Old, On Multiple Meds, Needs Help Down The Stairs… But When It Snows He Acts Like A Pupper Again

Image credits: CaptPippi

#45 Whenever We Foster A Singleton Kitten, Our Dog Becomes Foster Mama

Image credits: pinkhairgirl37

#46 From Elementary School Drama To Motherhood, My Sam Was Always By My Side For 21 Years

Image credits: jadedali

#47 The True Friendship Between A Dog And A Human

Image credits: Emmasmith77xx

#48 This Is The Cutest Thing

Image credits: briellewestwood

#49 Wholesome Dog

Image credits: badmoodrude

#50 Buttercup Is Ready For The Minnesota Winter

Image credits: Onlylolita