The digital K9: Affect, social media, and the projection of the police image

This article examines the role of digital K9s—police dogs turned social media celebrities—in contemporary police image work. As governance becomes increasingly digitalized and police violence becomes more visible online, departments are turning to weaponized canine cuteness to manage their public image. Despite the political implications of this phenomenon, it remains underexplored in academic literature, particularly in non-anglophone contexts. This article addresses that gap by building on debates in digital governance and digital natures to pursue a granular affective analysis of how digital K9s are mobilized in police communication strategies. Specifically, I examine 60 high-engagement Instagram posts from three Instagram accounts belonging to Mattis, Bumper, and Cabo Oliveira. The analysis finds these digital K9s are affectively fleshed out in three ways. First, they cultivate affective intimacy and co-presence through the projection of everyday scenes and shared cultural rituals. Second, in building the individual K9s as characters, these accounts reproduce police tropes—such as the benevolent father figure or the happy-go-lucky warrior—by leveraging the dogs' affective affordances. Finally, the K9s are narrated as individualized, feeling characters with moral depth and narrative arcs, allowing viewers to affectively align with their stories and the police institutions they represent. By using the digital K9 as a unique and effective entry point, this article calls for more attention from digital geographers on how governance and legitimacy are constructed through online affective practices. • Analyzes how police dogs are used as affective tools for police image work on social media. • Connects the digital K9 to debates in digital geography, governance, natures. • Develops a methodology to study digital-affective practices. • Calls for more attention on how states leverage digital and affective infrastructures.