Basic Trope: An otherwise completely anthropomorphic animal does something that reminds the audience what species they are.
- Straight: Jeff, an anthropomorphic dog, is hanging out with his human buddies when he suddenly drops everything to chase a cat.
- Exageratted: Jeff, a sheepdog, is driving his truck down a busy highway, when suddenly he spots a heard of sheep on the hillside, Jeff stops the truck and starts herding the sheep just as his ancestors have done for centuries.
- Downplayed: Jeff is hanging out at the bar with his friends, halfway between sips of beer he pauses to scratch his ear with his hind foot.
- Justified: Jeff may be more evolved than other dogs but he is still very much a dog and his instincts have a very strong hold on him.
- Inverted: A Wild Child, who acts like an animal most of the time, sits at a table once and eats off a plate.
- Subverted: Jeff, an anthropomorphic dog, goes to chase a cat, but only to return it to its proper owner.
- Double Subverted: Immediately after, he goes chasing some strays just for fun.
- Parodied: Jeff's urge to sniff people causes a blind date to end prematurely.
- Zig Zagged: At first, Jeff seems on the verge of being nothing more than a two-legged version of a regular dog. As the story approaches climax, he becomes focused and self-controlled. Then during the denouement, he starts chasing a cat.
- Averted: Jeff does absolutely nothing resembling dog behavior.
- Enforced: "We need more comic relief. Have Jeff randomly start chasing a truck."
- Lampshaded: "I almost forgot you were a dog."
- Invoked: Jeff occasionally relapses into dog behavior as to not forget his roots.
- Exploited: A character uses the sudden onset of dog behavior as a distraction, by suddenly throwing a ball into a crowd of people in plain view of the dog.
- Defied: Jeff rejects all dog-like behavior to be accepted in human society.
- Discussed: "I don't know what you just said because I was watching that ball in your hand. I can't stand it. Aren't you going to throw it?! If you don't, I might go randomly tearing off and chasing a car!"
- Conversed: "Did Jeff really just do that?" "Yep."
- Implied: Someone mentions Jeff near him, and about a minute, a bark is also heard behind him.
- Deconstructed: The constant descent into animal instinct leads to tragedy for the entire species (or the single member shown to act this way) due to hatred and fear against them - after all, if they will randomly start chasing a ball, they'll also hunt things smaller than them, as well as bite if improperly socialized or threatened. People are unsettled and afraid around creatures prone to random attacks of animal-like behavior.
- Reconstructed: The search for self-mastery of one's instincts is a common theme. "I am the master of the ball, not it's servant. I. Will. Not. Chase. It."
- Played For Laughs: Jeff chases an anthropomorphic cat.
- Played For Drama: Oliver, a Tasmanian devil, contracts devil facial tumor disease.
- Played For Horror: Tyler is an anthropomorphic tiger. He seems kind and civilized...until he kills and eats Fauna the anthropomorphic deer.
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