The phrase 'what the dog doin' took off as a viral meme caption and audio on TikTok, where creators filmed dogs caught in goofy situations and dubbed the shouted line over the footage. From there it spread into meme compilations and goofy ahh sounds collections, becoming a stock reaction for any clip of an animal acting strange. Like many short viral meme sounds, it stuck around because it is endlessly reusable: any dog doing anything odd instantly becomes funnier with the line on top, so pet pages and comedy editors keep reaching for it years after it first blew up.