Dog Full Body Origami

1. White side of the paper up: Fold bottom left corner to top right corner, crease then unfold.
**Terminology: Valley fold along diagonal, then unfold**

2. Fold bottom right corner to top left corner, crease then unfold. At this point you should have a square with an X mark crease. Your square should show the colorful side of your paper on the outside, with the white side of your paper on the inside.
**Terminology: Valley fold along diagonal, then unfold (creates diagonal crease pattern)**

3. Rotate your square so it looks like a diamond.
**Terminology: Rotate 45 degrees (standard orientation change)**

4. Now bring the bottom corner up so its tip touches the center of the diamond. Fold.
**Terminology: Valley fold corner to center**

5. Do the same with all the remaining sides of the diamond, brining the corners in and folding so you have a square, with 4 flaps making an x from the center.
**Terminology: Valley fold all four corners to center (this creates a "blintz fold" or "cushion fold")**

6. Unfold the top flap: it should look like an open envelope now.
**Terminology: Unfold one flap (standard unfold)**

7. Take the top open flap and fold it down just a little, so the top of this new triangle hits the top of the main square.
**Terminology: Valley fold tip of flap down (partial fold)**

8. Now fold back down the entire top flap (like you're closing the envelope), so now the little triangle is tucked in. At this point your paper should look like the square in (5) but with the top flap missing the tip of its triangle at the center of the square.
**Terminology: Valley fold flap back down (creates inside reverse fold/tuck)**

9. Now take the bottom flap of the square. Pull back the tip of the bottom triangle flap away from the center down until the tip of the triangle is about an inch *below* the whole square. Crease. Now if you flip over your piece, it should look like a solid square with a little triangle sticking out the bottom.
**Terminology: Pull out/extend flap and valley fold (creates extended point)**

10. Flip your piece to the side where you can see all the open flaps (not the solid side) and rotate your square so that the little sticking-out triangle is pointing towards your right.
**Terminology: Turn over (flip) and rotate**

11. Now take the very top of your paper and fold your whole paper down horizontally in half, like a hotdog bun.  Your whole paper should look like a rectangle now with your sticking-out triangle folded in half as well, so it looks like a right-angled triangle pointing up and to your right. That's your dog's tail.
**Terminology: Mountain fold in half horizontally (folding top away from you) or valley fold if folding bottom up - creates book fold**

12. Open up your folded-down rectangle and pull out the top and bottom triangles, then fold the rectangle back down with them sticking out. You should now see the dog tail and a big triangle sticking out at the bottom where the dogs legs would be. If you flip your paper so the dog's tail is facing left, you should see the same thing: a big triangle flap sticking out the bottom. Flip back so the tail if facing upwards-right.
**Terminology: Unfold, pull out layers (squash fold technique), then refold**

13. To make the back legs, you need to first identify 2 key points on your dog. 1st, look for the point below the tail where the straight-down of the rectangle meets the big downward triangle. This point is going to be the bottom of the dog's back feet. 2nd, look diagonal across the paper to the top of the rectangle on the opposite side from the tail. This is going to be the dog's neck. Put one finger on the neck point, and with your other hand, a different finger on the foot point.
**Terminology: Identify reference points (standard preparation step)**

14. Fold **up** the big triangle flap such that you form a perfect diagonal fold between the foot and neck points. It will look weird, don't worry. You should be able to see a lot of the non-colorful white part of the paper at this point. Just ensure there's a perfect diagonal between the foot and the neck point.
**Terminology: Mountain fold along diagonal between reference points (folding away from you to create the leg shape)**

15. Flip your paper over and repeat the same fold in 13-14, ensuring there's a diagonal back legs to neck. Your piece should now look the same on both sides.
**Terminology: Turn over and repeat fold (creates symmetrical fold)**

16. Now take the top flap that rests right above the dog tail. This is the flap you just folded up. Take a moment to notice that that flap already wants to fold towards you: there's another diagonal crease there from the dog's foot to the top of the dog's head. Fold that flap down the crease that's already there.
**Terminology: Valley fold along existing crease (inside reverse fold)**

17. Flip and repeat on the other side. You should see now the dog's got a head and a scotty dog shape.
**Terminology: Turn over and repeat fold**

18. You can stop here if you like, but you'll notice the dog's head is a bit pointy.
**Terminology: (Optional stopping point)**

19. This part is a little tricky, but if you like, open the paper fold that's just underneath the dog's jaw. You should see a little triangle tucked in there. Pull it full out to form the dog's beard.
**Terminology: Open layers and pull out hidden flap (outside reverse fold or pull-out fold)**

20. You can stop here for dogs that have pointy ears. To make a dog with more floppy ears, fold down the tops of the ears just a little on either side to make the floppy ears.
**Terminology: Valley fold tips down (creates rounded/folded ears)**
