DOGFLUENCERS: Meet Luna, Toronto's Sassiest Insta-Famous Corgi

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 Jenny (Luna'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?

Nguyen: We rescued Luna from South Korea via @freekoreandogs whom we heard about from our friends who also rescued their pups from! We were new to the "dog" influencer/social media world as we didn't have a dog prior to Luna. We knew from our friends who told us that the dog influencer world is starting to gain a lot of popularity. So from that we created Luna's account in 2021! We started our account as a digital journey where we shared her many firsts in Canada with us! As we continued our journey, it quickly became a platform where we can shared about some of our struggles as dog owners and how we approach it, how we love to adventure with Luna and share all our dog-friendly adventures and gear, and how we incorporate a lot of enrichment ideas. The account gained attention when we showed all of Luna's daily quirkiness and sassy attitude! Not only that, the account pushed me as a dog owner to pursue photography (still learning!) as a hobby to capture Luna's adventures. We live in a big city with minimal outdoor activities, but we didn't want that to stop us so we were inspired to continue posting about how our little family "attempt" the outdoors such as hiking, camping, biking and SUP boarding. Luna quickly adapted to all these activities and absolutely loves it! Showing the world that little dogs with little legs can do it too!

What do you think sets your dog apart from other dogs on social media? What makes them unique or particularly interesting to your followers?

Nguyen: It's definitely hard to make it on social media as there are so many accounts that have amazing content of their cute pups! Especially accounts with corgis! But I think what stands out about Luna is that she looks like a corgi but she's not a full bred corgi! Don't get me wrong though, she acts completely like a corgi so I think people are still drawn to her for that! She's got the sassy-ness, full on judging face down. She's extremely smart and an learn tricks very fast. Luna brings so much joy to us and we love that when we share these joyful quirky moments, people absolutely love it! I think one of the best running joke that people can relate to is Luna choosing one human over the other i.e. her dad over me (also known as the spare human).

How do you come up with ideas for your dog's posts and content? Do you have a specific creative process?

Nguyen: A lot of time we're just winging it and capturing in the moment photos and videos! It could be something extremely mundane like going for a walk in the middle of the winter and somehow I'll feel inspired to capture her snow zoomies or when she stuffs her whole face into the snow! Other times, we'll have a date scheduled out where we'll take her on a beautiful hike that includes certain pitstops and we just want to capture everything about that day for our own cherished reminder. For the most part, we try to gauge how Luna is feeling because we just want her to live her best life, and we're just there to capture it without making her do anything out of her comfort zone! I also take a lot of inspiration from other accounts and give my own personal spin on it!

Have you ever faced any challenges or negativity on social media, and how have you dealt with it?

Nguyen: I think that everyone will experience negativity at some point in their life, especially when you're displaying your life for the online world to see. I had a few comments in regards to some reels I posted, and honestly, I don't have the time for that. I read it, I let it mull over me for a minute, and then I continue to read the next comment. If you give it too much thought, it'll ruin your day - so for me I like to practice "out of sight, out of mind". As I mentioned before, I created this account as a way of documenting Luna's life with us since her first day of arrival in Canada! I didn't expect to end up becoming a content creator, yet here I am. One of the challenges of being a content creator is the constant pressure of creating content fast enough for your followers to fulfill this demand - a demand that's obviously in my own head. At some point, I had to take a step back to remember why I created the account in the first place. It's to share about Luna's life, which means I have to spend time with Luna and letting her live her best life! And that means being more present with her, and not sticking my phone in my face all day! It's a challenge I am still battling but it's getting better and better!

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start their own dog influencer account or share their dog on social media?

Nguyen: 100% do it! Why not? It doesn't hurt anyone and just try to think of it as a digital journal of your adventures with your furbaby! It's a great place to look back on at your past challenges, your past adventures and even past outfits that you're embarrassed about now. The photos and videos will trigger all these happy memories about that specific event and it's the best. If you happen to garner a lot of followers and attention - ride with it! And if you don't, do not take it personally! Not everyone of us are movie stars that make it on the big screen but we do alright! You only regret the things you DON'T do.

How has your dog influenced your life outside of social media?

Nguyen: There's just so much Luna has done for us, individually and together as a family! I had a family dog growing up and I was a good owner but I had my own life at school and work that I didn't think about what I could have done more for him. But with Luna, it's like she sparks this inner maternal instinct! It made me become more nurturing, caring, and extremely brave to stand up for her. Luna allowed us to experience joy when we're doing simple things like cooking and cleaning. She made us into these outdoor enthusiasts and adventurists whose willing to explore new parts of our country! She tapped into our empathy and increased that aspect of our life.

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?

Nguyen: My husband and I have our best laughs because of Luna! While Luna loves the outdoors and hiking, she also has her limits! She will only hike up to her capability and then she its her big butt on the ground. No amount of treats or snacks will get her moving on again. Whenever she does this mid-hike she will sit right in the middle of the trail and nobody can pass buy. After a few times, we finally understood and have finally gotten her a backpack. Now when we put her in the backpack and get to the top, she's all hyper and energized again to explore! She just knows how to use us and we find it so funny!

What is your favorite thing about being a dog influencer?

Nguyen: There are so many things that I love about being a dog influencer, but I think my main thing is that I get to show off my little girl! I get to show off how smart she is, how cuddly and cute she can be, and how sassy and funny she is. The other best thing is the community! We're all trying to figure out this space as it is still relatively new! We don't judge each other and we love sharing our success stories as well as our mistakes. I think that's what makes the dog influencer community just so amazing. We love supporting each other no matter what kind of dog we have and there's no space for negativity! At the end of the day, it's a great space to find information and if you're not there for the information, you'll still be greatly entertained by all the cute, funny and relatable content!

Lastly, what's next for you and your dog on social media? Any exciting plans or projects in the works?

Nguyen: We would love to do it all, but alas I do have my own fulltime job and content creating is meant to be a fun little activity on the side. However, we have been having so much creating sponsored content for local businesses such as JunoVet in Toronto, Vessis a canadian shoe store, and hopefully we'll be able to dip our toes into partnered stays around Canada where we can show off amazing dog friendly stays! We also love to show off enrichment toys and gears and we'll be partnering up with amazing businesses to show off guides for that!