Unlike The Sims 3, you don’t have the option to control pets in The Sims 4—even the ones in your household.
They’re just fully autonomous, independent balls of fluff that sleep, eat, poop, whine, and – if you aren’t careful – run away whenever they feel like it.
Ergo, it can be pretty tough to catch them in cute, adorable, or otherwise specific poses (like when your Sim is teaching them tricks or when they’re chasing their tails or something).
And this is just one of the reasons why we are forever grateful for Sims 4 custom pose creators.
So take a look at some of these awesome (read: super cute) pet-themed pose packs.
This one’s a pretty basic set of solo pet poses, but that’s what makes it a staple to have in your mods folder (if the goal is to capture your Sim’s pets when they’re doing something cute, anyway).
There are a total of twelve poses, available for both adult cats and kittens, and they’re all some variation of lazy lounging.
Paw cleaning, stretching, basking, meowing… all adorable actions you’d expect from an IRL cat, minus the scratching and hissing.
No need to fuss over teleporter placement, either.
This pack is from the same creator of the previous set—and it’s the same concept, too.
Basically, a dozen standard solo pet poses that don’t follow a specific theme or storyline; just a pet being a pet!
This here pack’s for dogs (as the name suggests) of all sizes, ages, and breeds.
It also seems to follow the general look of the cat pack in that the poses are mostly lounging or general lazing about, with a few exceptions (namely #12 begging for belly rubs, and #3 and #4, which seem to be variations of jumping).
Proof that there’s an animal companion out there for everyone.
This pose pack by minzza12 is a simple, wholesome little gift that features different Sims posing with different pets.
From small toddlers with big doggos to tall, confident women with playful little cats, there are plenty of combinations to choose from (or match with, if your Sim’s already got a favorite pet).
I myself am an absolute sucker for toddlers with large dog breeds—because I find it devastatingly adorable that big dogs instinctively know to be gentle around smaller humans.
But the other poses here are equally as sweet and heartwarming – like the toddler with the cat, and the adult Sim with the small hand-bag-sized dog.
So this is not my usual preferred combination of big dog, small human, but it’s still incredibly cute.
Especially if it’s a pose pack as high quality as this.
Nothing as complicated as Jingle Paws or as varied as My Buddy, but it’s still something I can highly recommend.
There’s no professional way to describe just how much squealing this pack elicited. So you’re just going to have to take my word for it: the poses in this pack are adorable.
Both as preview photos and in-game.
Poses five and six especially are my kryptonite.
Make sure to place both teleporters for the Toddler and Pet in the same place so that they line up exactly. I also have to point out that the pose only works for puppies.
Adult small breeds, sadly, won’t make the cut here.
I’ll stop squealing over toddlers and pets after this pack, I promise.
This is the last set I’m going to recommend with this concept. But I had to include it because all the toddlers’ expressions and interactions with their respective animals are so. Precious.
I could not hold it in.
A small dog softly touching a toddler’s knee?
A big dog acting as the toddler’s teddy bear?
A teeny pupper affectionately licking a toddler’s face?
They all make for the most adorable, innocent, heartwarming photos, I tell you. Let me know if there’s another more formal way to say this, but this pose pack is extremely d’aww-worthy.
There are ten poses overall here. Plenty of lovable kid-and-doggo combinations to choose from.
This set’s concept is drastically different from all the other packs I’ve listed, but it’s no less heartwarming.
The preview photos should tell you all you need to know, but basically, the poses depict a big cuddly dog comforting its human after a seemingly rough day.
From the dog’s tentative are you okay? approach (first pose), to the Sim burying their face in the dog’s fur (fourth one), this TS4 pose pack hits different levels of emotional.
If you’ve ever had your pet try to comfort you while you were down in the dumps, you know how accurate this scenario is.
Pets just know when their humans are feeling lousy, man.
This one’s got the same energy as minzza14’s My Buddy pack from earlier.
Practically the same name, too.
But I decided to include both because I believe there’s enough of a difference between the two to warrant a separate recommendation.
The My Buddy pack is more varied in terms of Sim ages, pet types, and breed sizes.
There are poses for toddlers, poses for adults, poses for big dogs, and poses for tiny cats.
SakuraLeon’s My Best Friend pack only has poses for adult Sims and small, portable pets (i.e., cats, kittens, puppies, and small dog breeds).
The poses in this set also have less of that “stolen shot” quality compared to the My Buddy pack (where most of the Sims models aren’t even looking at the camera).
All twelve shots in this pack give off the impression of a proud, happy owner showing off their endearingly tiny pets – and the results are a lot cuter than you’d expect.
10. Show Your Pets! Selfie Poses (Set #1) by Veiga Sims
Just like SakuraLeon’s post set, this pack by Veiga Sims features pet owners proudly showing off their pets for the camera—in the form of selfies.
Definitely a great two-for-one concept (because goodness knows there’s always a need for quality Sims 4 selfie poses), it’s also a fairly unique one.
Most of the packs on this list are reiterations of the same concept (with one or two being the obvious exceptions, of course). But I couldn’t find any other TS4 pet pose pack that utilized pets and selfies in the same shot.
Originality alone warrants a recommendation here.
But let’s take a moment to appreciate the quality too.
Both the pets and the Sims have great expressions, accurate positions, and do not look awkward at all. That’s a big plus for me.
