Meme · reaction
The 'They're Good Dogs Brent' Meme, Explained
Mainstream
See it in action
Video: @DOG_RATES | they're good dogs Brent, embedded from its original platform.
What the meme is
At its core, 'they're good dogs Brent' is the internet's favorite polite shutdown. The whole joke is the tone: instead of arguing with the critic's point about rating scales, @dog_rates answered with a flat, warm, completely unbothered statement of values, all dogs are good, end of discussion, and misspelled the guy's name while doing it. That combination of kindness and dismissal is what made it legendary.
It says 'I hear your complaint and I reject its entire premise' without a single hostile word.
In use, the phrase works two ways. Most often it's a straight expression of dog love: post a picture of any dog doing anything and 'they're good dogs Brent' is a ready-made caption or comment, which is how accounts like @CollegeGameDay used it within weeks of the original exchange.
But it also functions as a reaction to anyone being a pedant or a killjoy, when someone nitpicks something everyone else is enjoying, dropping 'they're good dogs Brent' tells them, kindly, that nobody asked. Reddit users still deploy it in all caps years later, which shows it settled into the permanent vocabulary of dog internet rather than fading as a 2016 time capsule.
There's also a wholesome epilogue baked into the meme's meaning. Brant took the ribbing in stride, he put the phrase on his wedding cake, and in July 2018 he DM'd WeRateDogs asking it to rate his new Havanese, Charlie. The account gave Charlie a 14/10 with the message 'you've got a good dog, Brent,' pulling over 92,700 likes in under 24 hours.
So the phrase now carries a full-circle warmth: the 'villain' of the story became part of the family, and quoting it is as much about that happy ending as about the original burn. [1][2][3][4]
The receipt
Original post, embedded from Tiktok, linked and credited. Visuals on this page are shown for commentary and identification.
The receipts
Documented, dated uses of “They're Good Dogs Brent” — each quote is verbatim from the linked source.
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“@brant they're good dogs Brent”
Every quote above passed the same verification gate this site publishes under: real source, real date, copied verbatim. See the editorial policy.
How it spread
The meme endures because WeRateDogs never stopped being a fixture of dog Twitter, and the exchange is still cited as the platform's gold standard for the 'perfect back and forth.' Every time someone argues with a wholesome account, or every time a dog photo needs a caption, the phrase resurfaces, harvested posts show it in use from 2016 straight through to 2024.
It also lives on through merch and callbacks: @dog_rates sells 'They're good dogs Brent' t-shirts and mugs, and the 2018 Charlie update introduced the meme to a whole new wave of people who hadn't seen the original. It's less a trending spike and more a permanent resident of internet culture.
Variants & examples
Safe in any casual register; quoting it reads as fond nostalgia, not cringe, just don't use it to actually dunk on someone named Brent.
- “Someone in the replies said golden retrievers are overrated, so obviously the top comment is just 'they're good dogs Brent.'”Twitter/X reply section under a dog video
- “My roommate said my dog's Halloween costume was 'a bit much.' They're good dogs, Brent.”Group chat defending a pet
- “THEY'RE GOOD DOGS BRENT!!”Reddit comment on any dog photo, often in all caps
- “He tried to argue the 14/10 rating was 'statistically impossible' and got hit with a they're good dogs Brent.”Describing someone nitpicking WeRateDogs scores
- “Captioned the pic of Charlie napping in his pineapple with 'they're good dogs Brent' and it did numbers.”Instagram or X dog post
Frequently asked
What does 'they're good dogs Brent' mean?
It's WeRateDogs' famous reply to a user who complained its dog ratings were too generous. It means 'all dogs are good, your criticism is dismissed', a warm but total shutdown.
Who is Brent in 'they're good dogs Brent'?
Brant Walker, the Twitter user @brant who criticized @dog_rates' scoring system in September 2016. The account misspelled his name as 'Brent' on purpose, which became part of the joke.
Why did WeRateDogs say 'they're good dogs Brent'?
Because Brant argued its ratings made no sense since every dog scored above 10/10. Instead of debating, the account replied that the dogs are simply good, defending its generous ratings with humor.
What happened to Brant after the meme?
He took it in stride, put the phrase on his wedding cake, and in July 2018 asked WeRateDogs to rate his new dog Charlie, who got a 14/10 and a 'you've got a good dog, Brent.'
Is 'they're good dogs Brent' still used today?
Yes. It remains a go-to caption and reply for dog content and for dismissing nitpickers, with sightings on Reddit and X years after the 2016 original.
Related memes (3)
More memes (6)
Sources (4)
- shawlocal.com — How an online fight about dogs became one of 2016's greatest memes – Shaw Local
- knowyourmeme.com — Know Your Meme: They're Good Dogs Brent
- knowyourmeme.com — They're Good Dogs Brent | Know Your Meme
- Live social usage (X/Reddit, harvested by our own runner) — Real posts using "They're Good Dogs Brent"