After a rough day and a run-in with a missing dog, overworked office worker Umi Seo wakes up to a surreal nightmare: she's trapped in the body of her boss's beloved pet. By day, Umi is a dog. By night, she's back to being human. Forced to live under one roof with the aloof CEO, Chahyeon Baek, the two begin to grow closer in the most unexpected way. But can Umi ever return to her normal life for good? Or will she be stuck living on a leash forever?

Woke Up as the CEO's Dog has story by Doosik yong and art by Della, based on a work by Shin Doan. Localized by WEBTOON. (September 16, 2025). Rated YA.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

You know what I wasn't expecting in my manhwa about a woman who turns into her boss' dog? Human behavior that makes sense. All of the people in Woke Up as the CEO's Dog act like actual human beings – they have boundaries, they talk about their situations, they aren't perfect. Umi Seo isn't going to just roll over because she spends half of every day as Gildong the dog. Chahyeon Baek isn't going to just let Umi do whatever she wants if it might endanger his dog. But they talk about these things, and the character who doesn't want to, Umi's boss, is painted as immature and unlikable. It's frankly a higher caliber of storytelling than I was expecting.

Which may explain why there's also an undercurrent of sadness to this work. Although these first eight chapters are largely humorous, Chahyeon mentions that Gildong, his beloved pet, is eighteen years old. That's old even for a dog the size she is (Yorkie-sized, even though she looks more like a Shi Tzhu), and some of the scenes where Gildong and Umi interact in a nebulous spirit world make it look like Gildong is trying to ensure that her beloved owner is happy when she dies. Since the dog is Chahyeon's only meaningful relationship, that's incredibly sad – especially since a flashback shows that she's been his main support since he was a child. Umi at this point seems like an unlikely substitute, but the story still seems to understand the pain of losing a pet.

Despite that, when this is silly, it leans into it hard. Umi's attempt to eat dog food doesn't go well (kudos for trying, though!), no one can figure out what's going on with Chahyeon and Gildong, and the art is light, fun, and attractive. I do wish the series blended its halves better, but if you can handle the potential sadness later on down the line, this is worth checking out.

Bolts
Rating:

I have always been a dog person. If anything happened to my poor little guy, I would probably tear down an entire city out of pure rage. I like the fact that Woke Up As The CEO's Dog seems to embody the love for a companion like that. While our titular CEO definitely gives off the strong and silent disposition that we see in so many other WEBTOONS, we definitely get to see his very organic and believable soft side. There is a story with him and how his relationship with his dog is an extension of abandonment issues. This book doesn't go into that much detail about it yet, but I like what was set up here, and I do want this guy to get his happy ending.

Also, I give credit to him for communicating with our lead, Umi Seo, and how she is dealing with one of the more interesting Freaky Friday scenarios. The overall setup is ridiculous, with the rules being made up as they go along. This feels like a book that is very much hinging on you being emotionally invested in the characters instead of caring about the logical consistencies of a rather ludicrous setup. Personally, I prefer those types of stories where we start with something ridiculous but use it as a means of telling a very real story. People transforming into animals or seeing life through an animal's eyes definitely isn't something new, and this overall setup isn't groundbreaking. However, they hit a lot of the necessary beats for me to get emotionally invested.

The presentation is basic, but there are solid comedic reactions. This is probably one of the few stories in the manga guide where it is actually hard for me to pick a screenshot because there are so many good reaction images to choose from. Outside of that, everything else is pretty standard. The book is playing on the mystery angle of why all this is happening in the first place to carry a lot of the story. Combine that with the emotional setup with the CEO, and I definitely can find myself reading this for at least a few more chapters.