Ben Rowell was challenged by the Times Magazine to make Dublin – a basic brown cockapoo who nevertheless won “Cutest Puppy” in his local dog show in 2017 – famous in six weeks
From research, Rowell concluded that they simply needed designer jumpers, a hat and some accessories. He explained his mission to the local dog grooming store
“…So anything, really, appropriate to an Insta dog,” he told the owner
The response was not sympathetic
For help, then, he turned to Loni Edwards – a Harvard-trained lawyer and CEO of The Dog Agency: “the world’s first – and, really, only major – management company for social media celebrity animal clients”
She represents nearly all America’s top dogs
To begin with, she recommends the basics: select your pet’s best feature (“for example, their ears”); choose their USP (exactly the same as, but different from, other accounts); train them; humanise them; add another one
From here, the posting begins. But it’s not just posting: it’s posing, lighting, retakes, hashtagging, captioning, Instagram Stories…
“It’s a ton of work,” Edwards notes, adding that even “two hours a night” spent responding to followers may be lowball
Alas, despite his best efforts, Rowell struggles. Even switching to a professional account and spending £42 on promotions returns slightly fewer than 42 followers – getting them up to 90-odd
So who are the top dogs in the pet influencer world?
Doug the Pug
3.9 million followers, Instagram
A New York Times bestselling ‘author’ and Hollywood’s favourite pug, Doug is the alpha of famous pets, making cameos in music videos by Katy Perry & Fall Out Boy, to name a few
Esther The Wonder Pig
1.5 million, Facebook; 606,000, Instagram
Esther isn’t the first ‘micro’ piglet that didn’t turn out to be so micro. But her owners have made it work – Esther now receives coats, bonnets and evening gowns from fans around the world to model
Nala cat
4.3 million, Instagram; 225,000, TikTok
A California student started Nala’s Instagram as a way to share pictures of her rescued Siamese-tabby kitten with family and friends back home
Nala now holds the Guinness World Record for being the most followed cat on Instagram
“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” reads the bio of the cat who found fame thanks to her unusual appearance
Scientists believe she’s the result of two embryos merging in the womb
Tika the Iggy
1.6 million, TikTok; 1.1 million, Instagram
“An actual bad b***h,” according to the singer Lizzo. The Italian greyhound from Montreal became a petfluencer by posing on social media wearing street-style dog outfits
🔺EXCLUSIVE: Rosie Duffield (@RosieDuffield1) has resigned as a Labour MP, blaming Sir Keir Starmer’s “cruel and unnecessary” policies and the freebies row that is engulfing him and his party
Duffield, 53, has become the fastest MP to jump ship after a general election in modern political history. She is writing to the prime minister today informing him of her decision to resign the whip “with immediate effect”
In her resignation letter, which she has shared with The Sunday Times exclusively, Duffield condemned Starmer for accepting gifts worth more than £100,000, including clothing, glasses and accommodation paid for by Lord Alli, the Labour peer
Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff has been accused of “subverting” cabinet ministers in an effort to secure a government bailout of up to £310m to rebuild a derelict stadium in Belfast thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…
Sue Gray has angered government officials and ministers by “personally dominating” negotiations for a bailout for Casement Park, a dilapidated Gaelic games venue due to host matches at the 2028 European football championship
Gray’s close interest in the project, which is politically contentious in Northern Ireland, has caused resentment among Labour ministers who have been told there is no money for new spending commitments
Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, has been injured in a shooting and taken to hospital, according to local reports ⬇️ thetimes.co.uk/article/slovak…
🔺 UPDATE: Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, is in a life-threatening condition after being shot in the street ⬇️
🔺 EXCLUSIVE: The police investigation into Angela Rayner is examining multiple allegations and is not merely limited to potential electoral law offences ⬇️ thetimes.co.uk/article/angela…
At least a dozen officers at Greater Manchester police are investigating the Labour deputy leader over where she lived in the 2010s and the sale of her former council house in Stockport
They are examining tax matters and other issues on top of the question of whether Rayner gave false information for the electoral register when she lived between two former council houses in Stockport in the 2010s
🔺 EXCLUSIVE: top universities recruit foreign students on low grades
Young Britons need straight As to get into Russell Group institutes. But their international classmates may have bought their way in through secret routes thetimes.co.uk/article/cash-f…
Foreign students can buy their way on to highly competitive degree courses with as little as a handful of C grades at GCSE. The courses require British students to have A or A* grades at A-level
Representatives of the elite Russell Group universities were secretly filmed discussing the “back door” routes used to recruit overseas students, who pay much higher fees than their UK counterparts
Ukrainians are resorting to extreme lengths to flee the war as Zelensky wants to lower that age of conscription to 25 as casualties mount in the war with Russia ⬇️ thetimes.co.uk/article/ukrain…
More than 17,100 Ukrainians have been detained by the DPSU trying to leave the country illegally since the Russian invasion thetimes.co.uk/article/ukrain…
Those numbers look set to climb as a contentious new bill seeks to mobilise another 500,000 men for military service