So dogs wear pantyhose now. At least that's what their owners are making them do in China as part of a new meme.

"Gou gou chuan siwa" (狗狗穿丝袜), or "Dogs wearing pantyhose" is the latest craze to hit the internet in China. Several photos have popped up of various breeds of dogs wearing different colored pantyhose and some owners go as far as putting shoes on them.

The trend seems to have started on Chinese social networking site, Weibo. Many users have uploaded photos of their dogs wearing pantyhose and joked about how "sexy" their dogs look as the put them in seductive poses.

Chinese site Sina said this trend started on Weibo just due to pure boredom. Weibo user Ulatang was the first person to upload a photo of their dog wearing pantyhose. They said that their dogs rolled their eyes after being forced to wear pantyhose. The first image received over 16,000 comments in China.

Ulatang set the trend and many users followed suit by dressing their own animals in pantyhose and posting photos to the site.

Some may find the trend strange, weird, disturbing or hilarious and some might even take it as far as it being animal abuse. However some argue that it's not too much different from dressing up dogs in costumes or personalized outfits that are commonly sold in pet stores nowadays.

What do you think? Is this trend hilarious or just plain cruel?