We humans have a lot to learn from animals, such as how to enjoy life so easily. Even if you’re having a bad day, take your mind off it and check out this cheerful selection! Here are the finalists in The Comedy Pet Photography Awards, which collects professional and amateur shots of animals.

“Whizz Pop” By Zoe Ross. “Playing with bubbles in the garden. I think I may have swallowed one.”

“Photobomb,” by Kathryn Trott. “Jeff stealing the limelight from his brother Jaffa.”

“Sit” by Suzi Lonergan. “Our granddaughter gave the command to sit. Beau is very obedient.”

“Wine Time” by Kathryn Clark.“It’s that time of day again! Little Blue enjoys it almost as much as me :-)”

“…That was a good one!!” by Jakub Gojda. “This photo was taken by accident during the photography of my ex-girlfriend with her beloved mare. For this cheerful moment, I thank the fly that sat on the horse’s nose and he instinctively shook his head. And so it seems that the humor between a horse and a woman is definitely not missing :)).”

“Ostrich style” by Manel Subirats Ferrer.“Little Nuka playing hide and seek one day at the beach”

“Nosy Neighbor” by Colin Doyle.“According to Ozzy we need a new fence panel ASAP. He is fed up with Chester our nosy next door neighbour spying on him every time he has a meal.”

“The Eureka Moment,” by Sophie Bonnefoi. “Cutie and Speedy are 2 chicks hatched from eggs placed in an incubator at home in August 2020. They spent their first few weeks indoors. On the photo they are just over 2 weeks old. They were curious about everything. This is the day they discovered their own shadow. It was hilarious to see them wondering and exploring that ‘dark thing’ that was moving with them!”

“Muttford and Chum” by Luke O’Brien.“Losing the opportunity to play with my human band mates during lockdown, Flint my rescue dog soon taught me that we didn’t just have sharp bones in common, but musical ones too. He soon became the perfect substitute for a collaborative stomp up at home, so much so that we felt we deserved our own band name (Muttford and Chum). With my camera set up remotely during this shoot, I think it’s fair to say that the image is proof that his conviction as a performer matches my own – well, we were covering ‘treats and tugs and dinner bowls’ by Ian Puli and the Boneheads.”

“Photo bomb” by Mollie Cheary.“Bailey was so excited to see her friends, she couldn’t sit still for a photo!”

Hugo The Photobomber! By Chloe Beck.“This is my best friend Faith and her husband Alex… And their cheeky Sproodle, Hugo. Faith wanted a photograph to mark a special occasion – her first outing after shielding at home for 14 months. Hugo jumped into the frame at just the right moment! He’s a lockdown pup, so he hasn’t quite gotten used to the excitement of being around other people yet hehe :-)”

“Crazy in love with fall” by Diana Jill Mehner. “This is Leia. As you can see, she definitly love playing with all the leaves in autumn – and yes it was really tricky to take this picture because you never know where the dog will act and what it is going to do next :D”

“I said ‘Good Morning,’” by Mary Ellis. “I like to visit the stable horses before I begin my hike at the State Park…this is the reply I received when I said Good Morning.”

“A Warm Spot on a Cold Day” by Corey Seeman.“Two of the morning regulars at the dog park are Gary (hound mix with the jacket) and Kona – who is one of the most chill dogs ever. Got this picture of Gary finding a warm place to sit on this cold winter’s day – February 9th, 2021.”

“So what?” by Lucy Slater.“Vincent the cat..This is how I like to sit!”

“Excuse me, Could we Have our Ball Back please?” by Christine Johnson.“Star and Will trying to get their ball back from one of the Crosby statues.”

“Jurassic Bark” by Carmen Cromer. “My golden retriever, Clementine, loves to stick her face in front of the hose while I water the plants. Her expression in this photo made me think of a tyrannosaurus rex, hence the title, Jurassic Bark… duh nuh nuuuh nuhnuh, duh nuh nuuuh nuh nuh, dun duh duuuh nuh nuh nuh nUUUUUUhhhh.”

Bored Panda reached out to Tom who is one of the co-founders of the competition, with some questions. First, they asked Tom about how they chose the final winner for the photography contest.

“The images are considered by a wide variety of judges, including pet lovers, animal welfare experts, and photographers, and this year, for the first time, we had some keen younger judges through our partnership with Animals Friends Pet Insurance, which was brilliant and important and something we want to continue going forwards. Each judge scores the images out of 20 and then we add them up. The winner is the one with the biggest score. It is remarkably simple and unscientific – thank goodness!”

Then, they asked about how the idea of the photography contest came to be.

“It was following the success of our other sister competition Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, which had been running for a couple of years, and Paul Joynson Hicks, the other co-founder and I suddenly thought, why not do the same but for pets? And the Comedy Pet Photo Awards was born. Pets are such an important part of our lives and being more accessible perhaps than wildlife, we can get more people involved and engaged to do something for pet animal welfare and raise a smile or two in the process.”