The Dog
A public service all about Dogs, free to use when making your fancy new App, Website or Service
- Authentication
- API Key
- HTTPS
- Yes
- CORS
- No
- Category
- Animals
- Data source
- public-apis + marcelscruz
- Documentation / URL
- https://thedogapi.com/
Overview
The Dog API is the canine counterpart to The Cat API: thousands of dog images (and GIFs), breed-filtered search, and voting/favorites with an account. And just like its feline sibling, the basic image search works even without a key.
Verified 2026-08:
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *is returned, so browser calls work (the listing’s CORS “No” is outdated).
Quick Start
Random dog image — works without a key:
curl "https://api.thedogapi.com/v1/images/search"[{"id":"VywKKonr8P","url":"https://cdn4.thedogapi.com/optimized/VywKKonr8P.jpg","width":1152,"height":928}]With your free key (recommended — higher limits):
curl "https://api.thedogapi.com/v1/images/search?limit=3&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY"By breed:
curl "https://api.thedogapi.com/v1/images/search?breed_ids=akita&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY"Breed list:
curl "https://api.thedogapi.com/v1/breeds"Authentication
- Free key from thedogapi.com signup — raises rate limits, unlocks voting/favorites.
- Send it as the
api_keyquery parameter. - Image search tolerates missing keys — great for demos.
Rate Limits & Notes
- Free tier is generous for hobby use; current limits on the docs page.
- Images are served from a Google Cloud Storage CDN (
cdn4.thedogapi.com) — hotlink-friendly. - Breed IDs are short lowercase codes (
akita,labrador). - Voting/favorites require an account and your key.
FAQ
Does The Dog API require an API key? The image search works without one; a free key gives higher limits and voting/favorites.
Is it free? Yes — free tier for hobby use.
Can I call it from the browser? Yes — CORS is enabled (verified).