• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, December 27, 2018

Unveiled on Christmas Eve, the company is calling the offering “a new treat for you and your best friend.”

The lenses include ornament-adorned reindeer antlers (for dogs), a blue butterfly that rests on a dog’s nose, oversized wire-rimmed eyeglasses (for dogs), super-chunky coke-bottle glasses (for dogs), and, of course, a pepperoni pizza that wraps around a dog's face.

Positioning the effort partly as a philanthropic endeavor, Snap launched the new lenses in partnership with Wags & Walks, a Los Angeles-bases animal advocacy and rights group.

Charity aside, Snap is hoping the new lenses can provide its service with a much-needed boost.

In terms of usership, Snap seems to be holding its own. From October 2017 to October 2018, Snapchat saw digital consumption increase by 35%, while new user adoption was up 13%, per Nielsen.

Yet, the growth isn’t satisfying investors and analysts, many seem to believe that Snap’s best days are behind it.    

Once valued at more than $30 billion, the company’s market cap recently sunk below $7 billion, while analysts worry the worst is yet to come.

Current and former Snap employers are increasingly pointing the finger at founder-CEO Even Spiegel, recently detailed by The Wall Street Journal. Among other missteps, Spiegel is being blamed for over investing in Spectacles -- Snap’s video-capturing sunglasses.

A billion cute dog pics aren’t going to solve Snap’s underlining management problems. However, Spiegel continues experiments with new revenue-generating features.

Perhaps the most ambitious play involves Amazon and what Snap hopes is its own burgeoning commerce strategy. The partners recently started testing a visual product search feature, which lets users search for products simply by snapping their photo -- or their barcode -- with a smartphone.