Published Nov. 2019 in Cavalierposten by The Danish Cavalier Club
We all know how it goes. Our social media accounts are overflowing with pictures of our fourlegged family members. I had only barely started my Instagram account before it contained more pictures of Cosmo and my life with him than it did of myself. That’s where a friend told me now two years ago, that dogs could have accounts on social media too! And that was the beginning of an adventure I had never forseen.
@CuteCosmo_TheCavalier started like it does for so many other with sharing just simple pictures and videos from our day to day rutines. I pretty quickly notised that Instagram wasn’t like any other social media platform I had been on before. Here I found an amazing united dog community across breeds and countries and with a unique sense of community, support and positivity. I quickly grew a steady base of followers who made it fun to share but even more so – made it fun to engage!
In matter of moths @cutecosmo_thecavalier hit it’s first big milestone of 1000 followers! Never ever had i imagined that so many people would want to follow along in Cosmo’s life. With the inspiration of other amazing profiles and other creative instagrammers I began to develope a passion for photography. It was still just my old mobile phone that joined us on our trips to the ocean, forrest or in the back yard. But more and more so did it develop into small mini-photoshoots. I put a Nikon on my Christmas Wish list for 2018 and with Cosmo in one hand and my new Nikon in my other hand a new chaptor was ready to start for Cosmo and I that following year.
I love the creative process of crating my feed and story for Instagram. First off with the camera and Cosmo and later on at home where pictures are picked out and final editing touches are being made. I can see how I improve over time when I compare to when we first started. Also – Cosmo is just the best motive and a great ‘partner in crime’. Also small creative vidoes are being made from time to time often with a thought to inspire others. And then, let’s face it – Working with our dogs are just an awesome activity. It doesn’t really matter what you are doing together aslong as your are both enjoying it and having fun! So when I bring out my camera Cosmo shows up ready to ‘work’ – ready for treats ofcourse!
About a year down the road we found ourselves a bit more established on Instagram and now about 2 years later we’re quite a solid profile. It sometimes happens that we meet a bit of head shaking when talking about having a dog on social media. There are still many prejudices about it and I think that a lot of people find it a waste of time that would be better spent out there in ‘the real world’. But then, when I tell them we are past 18.000 followers in our little “pastime activity” and tell them how it has brought us several great adventures it’s like we get their attention after all.
It’s no secret that I enjoy seing our account grow and especially how it warms my heart when someone takes the time to tell us how much they love our account or has loved a post or benefited from an advice or in any other way shows their appreciation for the time and passion that it actually requires building up a profile like ours. It genuinely warms my heart. Because it’s far from just the likes and amount of followers that keps us going. It’s truely the amazing community found on Instagram that makes it worth it – the Cavalier community inparticular! That is what makes this journey so special. It is such a positive and supportive community. It has lead me to contacts and frienships not only here in Denmark but all over the world!
And then there are the little fun stories I get that makes me smile along the way. A friend from France messaged us one day telling us how she had been walking her lille tricoloured Cavalier down the streets of Paris. An english tourist had passed her and exclaimed: “LOOK! It’s Cosmo!”- I found that story pretty amazing I must say.
Social media has also brought us many other fun adventures within the past two years. We have had collaborations with companies locally and internationally. We have entered a Calendar seach for a Danish Pet store and won. we have been on a Picture Memory Game made and sold by The Danish Kennel Club and been a coverdog on Cavalierposten. We’ve met up with other Instagram-doggies from denmark but also from abroad. Lastly but not least he’ll be starring in a book with Cavaliers come late spring 2020.
Quite fun was it to be part of the runners up for a spot on the Danish Postal Stamps. A collaberation between The Danish Kennel Club and Post Nord. The press caught the story pretty quickly and before we knew of it we were in two articles in different local papers and has a live interview on the radio that was live streamed on their facebook aswell. It was so much fun being part of the process – unfortunetly he wasn’t picked as one of the 7 dogs that won.
The latest news in our adventures will have to be the launch of the website www.cutecosmothecavalier.com . Here we have built a platform to bring together all our activitiess from Instagram to breeding information to blog posts, collaberations and room for whatever else may come along the way in the future.
With a reach like ours I am aware of the impact and the range we possess and the significance of this. How incredible it may sound to those who do not know the world of social media: Having a profile like ours sparks dreams for others to have a Cavalier like Cosmo and some may look forward to seeing our post come out the next day simply because it makes them smile. It had made ud somewhat an ambassador for the breed and I actually take that responsibility very seriously.
It’s not all just fun, games and creative prosses for us but also a possibility to send out important messages out there to future Cavalier owners; such as the importance of being a responsible buyer who does not fall for the tricks of scammers or supporters of puppymills. Also shine a light on the important it is to buy a Cavalier using your head first! – The heart will easily follow. It has become a way for me to share knowledge about the health of the Cavaliers and the importance of buying from responsible breeders who heathtest their breeding stock and tend to the great resposibility out breeders have.
My followers have followed along since the early days of my own dream of approving Cosmo for breeding. So when I by a miracle was able to make this dream come true I shared every step of the way with my followers. I opened up the doors via Instagram Stories and made sure I did educating posts and stories about every health test we did and why they were so important to do. I have had several messages on Instagram about how we have inspired them to add a Cavalier to their family – but even more importantly how it inspired them to seek out responisble breeders – And this is part of what makes it all worth it!
So while some do dogshows with their dogs- agility or nosework – we do social media!
Maybe we’ll meet you out there?
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Hope your dreams come true. We need good breeders ❤️
This is such a nice article!!
I remember that your account was one of the very first I ever saw when I decided to open Jane’s profile.
You are truly an inspiration, for pictures, account style and everything Cav related actually! 😀 Keep up the good work, we love you! <3