Ten Image Types (2025)
Gears (2025)
Chelsea Picture (2025)
Decorative Ribboning Apparatus at Stoney River (2025)
1. Three Quarter Profile or “Stack” View
The most common type of image published by the online micro bully community is the three quarter profile photograph. These glamour shots are typically captured at or below the dog’s eye level, though sometimes from slightly above. Usually taken in landscape orientation, these images accentuate the widths of the dogs while compressing their perceived heights. A key aspect of the three-quarter profile is the “stack.” A dog “stacks” when they shift their weight to one side of their body and extend a hind leg out the other side. Sex Worker, at bottom center, is doing a magnificent stack. Her canine contrapposto is elegant; her gut kisses the wet cement while her tiny forearms bow beneath the weight of her giant head. Her left hind leg is so extended that one can’t help but wonder if she is in control of her lower body in this moment or if that leg just gave out. The tilted framing of her portrait intensifies a sense of lost control here. Incapacitated by her own genetics, she is, apparently, a picture of breedability:
“🚨BAD BISH OF THE DAY💅🔥🚨
BULLY 🌎‼️ MEET OUR “BAD B*TCH OF THE DAY” 💅🔥🏆 “SEX WORKER” OWNED BY @heavyhitterscompound2.0_backup ‼️ ONE OF THE SMALLEST LILAC 🍇 FEMALES IN CALIFORNIA 🎯 NANO 🐜✅ BONE 🍖✅ FRONTS✅ MUSCLETONE💪🏾✅ 🦍 NECK & SHOULDERS✅ COMPACT REARS✅ PEDIGREE🩸✅ A MR.ROGERS GRANDDAUGHTER WHOS SWELLING UP AS WE SPEAK 🩸 LOOKING FORWARD TO WHO THIS FEMALE IS BRED TO AND WHAT SHE PRODUCES 👀 LOCATED IN RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA 📍”
(https://www.instagram.com/p/C9Q69aTuVij/)
2. Headshot
Headshots are not difficult to find but are posted less frequently than three quarter profile shots. Images like these look and function very similarly to “stack” shots; breeders post them to advertise the uniquely excellent genes that they have developed. Sometimes the dogs are posted for sale, sometimes just to flex, but usually the dogs are posted because the breeders want to set up impregnation deals with other breeders––they either want to sell their dog’s sperm or rent out her uterus. The caption accompanying the image of State Property, at center right, reads:
“Man sitting here whelping these puppies🐶 looking how small an compact an consistent these bulls look.. I still can’t believe 🇺🇸State Property🇺🇸 done blessed me with 2️⃣healthy females let alone every litter that he has done drop no matter what color of the female has been He has threw at least one chocolate 🍫 I can’t be even more proud he definitely just elevated and took my program to the next level‼️🇺🇸🌎💯💥
🇺🇸State Property🇺🇸 for president it’s either get down or lay down ain’t no OTHER way around we have a few br33dings coming up stay tuned‼️🇺🇸🌎⭐️
📸: @gomez_gottiline_photography 🤝🏾🔥😮💨#HBB #HellaBandsBullies #HellaBandsWay #HellaBands“
(https://www.instagram.com/p/DIhaLRoTnjl/)
3. Top-Down
The top-down shot is a less formally constrained image type than the three-quarter profile and the headshot, defined just by the camera’s positioning above the dog. These images illustrate the dog’s back shape and may incorporate props to demonstrate how small a dog is. Despite the top-down view being the primary view an owner would have while walking their micro bully, I found it quite difficult to assemble nine top-down photographs, with three of the above images coming from one breeder, @Thizzface_Kennels_NJ. The limited quantity of publicly posted top-down images suggests that the information these photographs present is not as valuable to breeders and potential buyers as that provided by images which foreground facial features and bodies forshortened behind faces. This fact, combined with the heavy use of Instagram for bully business and the relatively new market for the dogs, leads me to hypothesize that micro bullies are specifically bred to look a certain way in Instagram posts.* This survey of bully imagery will not attempt to prove that hypothesis, and more comprehensive study is necessary.
The photograph in the top left is obviously more than a demonstration of the size of breeder Salvador Rodriguez’s bullies (@goldrushbullies). With twenty thousand dollars spread across the backs of two dogs, the image is a demonstration of Rodriguez’s material wealth and its intimate connection to the dogs he has bred. This presentation of success is furthered by the golden meandros pattern on his sandal straps, linking his greatness to the perceived glory of ancient Greece. This image’s entanglement of canine genetics, material wealth, and human success is representative of the broader bully culture as I have observed it.
*Google searches for micro and nano bullies were first recorded in 2013 and 2021, respectively. Further historical and ancestral research into these dogs would be useful.
4. Family Collages and Pedigree Charts
A dog’s phenotypic presentation is insufficient evidence that their offspring will be of similar quality. To sell a bully’s semen or uterus, breeders assemble pedigree charts and family collages to show the blood relations between that dog and others, giving prospective business partners a more comprehensive sense of what genes that dog possesses. All the photographs used in these images are three-quarter profiles or headshots, and while the plain collages often don’t have much going on, the pedigree charts can be heavily stylized. Pulling from a glitzy strip-club, casino event poster, and early drill album cover visual tradition, graphics by multihyphenate bully world figures like Alex Gomez of @gomez_gottiline_photography and @gomez_gottiline_exoticz are able to elevate bullies to larger-than-life characters with seemingly royal bloodlines. State Property, at bottom left, is one such bully who, awash in golden light, dominates the Portland skyline at dusk. His relatives are framed by golden squares connected with golden lines, the dogs emanating light against the heavily shadowed ground. The chart speaks for itself: breed with the king and you might produce a prince. Or, perhaps, do a deal with the king (Hellabandsbullies) and you yourself have a shot at the throne.
5. Event Posters and Dope Pics
Photographs and videos of puppies breastfeeding are quite common on the Instagram pages of micro bully breeders. These intense images of the miracle of life advertise healthy litters to potential business partners and customers, but to uninitiated audiences they can be difficult to look at. Contrasted with the carefully posed, framed, and edited media that dominates the online presences of micro bully breeders, images of mothers sprawled out on their backs while puppies suckle at their nipples can seem out-of-place. But these fleshy, candid looks at what it takes to bring life into the world are the ones that best express love. The practice of inbreeding dogs to the point where they can barely breathe or stand can be upsetting, but seeing a mother doing what she can to help her babies survive is always moving.
Pulling from a number of visual references including movie posters and album covers, images in this category often combine humor, graphic design prowess, and an affinity for intense aesthetics to convey a range of ideas and emotions. Whether it’s the OnlyFrenchies event (not bully but a related visual culture), an It poster overlay to announce the birth of a dog’s sons, or a shoutout for Breeder of the Month, breeders use heavily photoshopped images to launch their dogs and themselves into the high-octane imaginary realm of movies, reality TV, and pornography. These posters are vehicles through which breeders project the intensity, glamour, wealth, and coolness of their dogs and the dog game.
6. Discourse About the Dog Game
This category of image is loosely defined by text and language about the breeding business. There exist several media aggregates and podcasts centered on micro bullies (@thebullyspittinpodcast, @thepawdcastofficial). Micro bully commentary is an outlet for news, gossip, and critical commentary about dogs and dog breeding. A key aspect of this category is language about the “dog game,” the “dog world,” and “dog money.” Dog breeding is a time and money consuming practice. One’s livelihood and in-group social status is dependent on getting inbred dogs to produce more dogs and for them to do so with some level of health. It’s little wonder why Richard Deberry’s statement, “the dog world is more viscous than the drug world” was met with so much affirmation from the exotic dog community (https://www.instagram.com/p/DIkKRnouOpB/).
This category of image is loosely defined by text and language about the breeding business. There exist several media aggregates and podcasts centered on micro bullies (@thebullyspittinpodcast, @thepawdcastofficial). Micro bully commentary is an outlet for news, gossip, and critical commentary about dogs and dog breeding. A key aspect of this category is language about the “dog game,” the “dog world,” and “dog money.” Dog breeding is a time and money consuming practice. One’s livelihood and in-group social status is dependent on getting inbred dogs to produce more dogs and for them to do so with some level of health. It’s little wonder why Richard Deberry’s statement, “the dog world is more viscous than the drug world” was met with so much affirmation from the exotic dog community (https://www.instagram.com/p/DIkKRnouOpB/).
7. Breastfeeding Mothers
8. Squat with Dog
Framed like the three quarter profile and headshot, but with the owner or breeder squatting with their dog. Taken to display the connection between themselves and the byproducts of their labor, these images serve significant social functions for many breeders. Often stern faced, breeders use these images to communicate the severity of their game. Taught collars and leashes load squat images with potential energy; as a dog pulls itself toward the camera, we sense the imminent release of a breeder’s person into the world. 9. Virility Images
I decided not to include Instagram posts by breeders of dogs getting jacked off, but they’re out there.
10. Family Photos
Images of families and kids with bullies figure prominently on some breeders’ Instagram accounts. Photos like these are loaded with sentiments of innocence and wonder, and the affection children show for their dogs is genuinely adorable. Like the images of breastfeeding bullies, these photos and videos reveal that somewhere, beyond the swagger, the money, the freakish breeding practices, and the animal cruelty, there’s love.