Welcome to the ultimate destination for dog enthusiasts and social media mavens alike. At Dogfluencers, we're passionate about showcasing the best and brightest in the world of four-legged fame.
Whether you're looking for adorable photos, heartwarming stories, or expert tips on how to turn your own pup into a social media star, we've got you covered.
Today we got the honor of interviewing Silke (Muddy & Lea's Human). You can find a direct link to their Instagram here.
Here is their story:
Can you tell us about your journey to becoming a dog influencer? What inspired you to start sharing your dog's adventures on social media?
Well, first I just had my very own Instagram account and I wasn't posting so much really...but then back in April 2018 we adopted our dog, Muddy, from Romania and my dream of having a dog again came true. My wife had been afraid of dogs but she trusted me and fortunately gave it a try. So that was a really exciting time for all of us. Taking photographs is also something I like very much and so I took tons of pictures of our new buddy and posted them on my Instagram account. When I someday had a look at my account I recognized that there were so many dog pictures that people might get annoyed...so Muddy got his first very own account and our cats got one, too ;-) Later I melted those two accounts together to one, chose a new name and in October 2020 we adopted a second dog from Romania. So that are the "Hamburger Instafelle" of today and we are still posting lots and lots of pictures and have so much fun with like-minded people. It was and still is just our pets diary and we share our adventures, travels, cuddles, funny stuff as well as our problems and doubts with our followers. Sometimes we also test products and share some ads of our favourite food and stuff. So we personally have our diary to look at also ourselves but what we also love today is the great community and that we already met some of our new friends in real life, too!! This is definitely one of the best things social media can do :-)
What do you think sets your dog apart from other dogs on social media? What makes them unique or particularly interesting to your followers?
What we wanted to share is that it's a good thing to adopt a dog instead of buying one from a breeder. Our dogs were both rescued by some good humans in Romania and they both have their "special effects" (but this can happen with purebred dogs, too) but we love them to the moon and back. Muddy was found with his sister as a little puppy with babesiosis but he survived and was raised in a little private shelter. He is a very insecure dog and was of course shocked when he came here. It took us a while to show him everything and help him getting self-confident etc. But love, time and patience can do so much! It is the most wonderful thing to see such a dog learning to trust you and to get more and more social and starting to enjoy a real dog's life!! Maybe our story can encourage someone to take a rescue dog instead of a puppy and give him/her a second chance and a wonderful life. That would be the best thing!!
How do you come up with ideas for your dog's posts and content? Do you have a specific creative process?
Nah...there is no real process ;-) I take what life gives me...of course we keep our eyes open for things that might be interesting for our followers but mostly we post about our adventures, travels, walkies, training and everything that's popping up in our everyday life.
Have you ever faced any challenges or negativity on social media, and how have you dealt with it?
Fortunately not. I read it from others every now and then and sometimes I'm wondering why they don't bother us...maybe it's good that we don't have THAT many followers ;-) Our community is just wonderful and until now we had no real haters at all (although we give them the opportunity as we are for example openly married women also posting LGBT stuff now and then etc). Hopefully it will just stay like that.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to start their own dog influencer account or share their dog on social media?
I guess the most important thing is to always stay honest and authentic. Take your time to grow slowly. It is more important to have a nice community supporting you than to have thousands of followers that are never ever liking, commenting or caring about any post you're writing at all. Especially for accounts with animals I think it's an absolute no-go to do any harm to them for posts. Even if your dog doesn't like being photographed...just train it with a lot of fun or post something else of the situation you want to show. Seeing unhappy pups, maybe even in clothes, being forced to do something is just relevant to animal protection in the end. This is not what should be shown and spread on social media. Also I would never post any kind of advertising for products I don't really like and cannot really recommend. People will not believe you anymore and also it wouldn't feel right.
How has your dog influenced your life outside of social media?
Ha, that one is a good question. Everything has changed :-) We learn so much from our dogs... I'm not a very outgoing kind of person (and I am really understating this fact!!) and getting in contact with others is not that easy for me. A dog is a wonderful door opener for this. I'm getting out very much, behaving like crazy sometimes to motivate the doggos or to get them coming back to me for example. I never thought I would be able to do this, especially in front of others. Also I learned (and I am still learning) to be more patient, consistent and reliable as this is what the dogs need. Of course other things like the way we travel and the way we get visitors at home have changed ;-)
Can you tell us about a particularly memorable or funny moment you've had with your dog during one of your photo shoots or adventures?
With Lea, one of the most memorable moments was our visit of the "TONY Beachparty" in Cologne in 2022 where the German Petfluencer Awards are bestowed to great dog influencers in different categories. It was a wonderful experience to see all the great human-dog-teams there and also meeting some Instagram buddies. It was an honor and we hope to get invited once again because it's also a huge pawty with free snacks, a lot of info, and great fun. Lea first was a bit afraid but then she just had a blast there!! ;-)
What is your favorite thing about being a dog influencer?
My favorite thing is the interaction with our followers and also getting to know our best Instagram friends in real life if possible. Until now we always had so much fun!! (And as I said - this is nothing that is easy for me in my "normal" life.)
Lastly, what's next for you and your dog on social media? Any exciting plans or projects in the works?
Well, I can't tell very much as most of the stuff surprises myself, too... But indeed I've been working on a blog for a while already, not knowing if it will ever go online... I'm a newbie to this and I'm still struggling a lot. But who knows, maybe it will come...I'm curious myself :-)
