We are always telling you (yeah, we are!) to start an Instagram account for your dog, and then keeping it fresh with your own unique vision of your dog. Not only does such a page bring attention to your dog’s breed, but you never know who’s noticing your photographs, and what might come of it. Mind you, some dog accounts aren’t the kind of attention some of us would want for a breed (on one Corgi’s Instagram page, the Pembroke is described as being an extremely rare type of Corgi who has an all-white coat. In fact, his color (as far as we know) is a fault in the breed, but the dog’s 234k followers may not know otherwise. This is the sort of thing that can be combated by presenting a correct example of the breed when, say,  your Corgi, is a correct color and has his or her own page.

But we digress.

Doug the Pug has over 10 million followers across all of his social media platforms, and that has led to a book and line of merchandise. The Pug’s “King of Pop Culture” status has not only led to appearances with celebrities like Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, Katy Perry, and Justin Bieber, but Doug’s owner developed a relationship with her now fiancé with whom she’s grown a business and traveled the world together, and it started because of Doug’s Instagram page.

Not convinced?

This picture was taken by Hunter and Sarah Lawrence during a trip to Banff National Park in Canada. Another couple offered them a free pass for Lake Louise where they snapped the photograph during a canoe trip. They shared the photo on the Instagram page of their Golden Retriever, “Aspen,” when the dog had, maybe 1,000 followers. The picture got picked up by CNN, and then Buzzfeed. The number of the dog’s followers skyrocketed (it’s now at 292k), and the couple eventually hired a business consultant to help them figure out the kind of compensation they should request for various partnerships (think pet food endorsements). The image now serves as the logo for the commercial photography business the couple has built, Lawrence House, and it’s not a stretch to suggest that Aspen’s image helped launch it.

Not sure how to start? Do a Google search on “Instagram for beginners.” A site like this will help get you started, but remember to do something with your dog that no one else has done. Do an Instagram search on your breed (simply type #your breed in the search window) to see what the competition is doing, and then avoid duplicating it.

You never know who’s looking. If your dog already has a page, feel free to share it with us in the comments section.

Image: From DepositPhoto