‘Kody didn’t come to us an Instagram star. It kind of evolved because we started going to Doodle Romps.’

Smithtown

“We got Kody in the summer of 2013. I refer to him as my firstborn. He’s my fur baby. This was the first dog that I had as an adult living on my own with my husband, and my husband never had a dog growing up. We worked together good as a team. And he has become such a dog person. He’s obsessed with him as much as I am.

“Kody sleeps in bed with us. He eats first. Kody didn’t come to us an Instagram star. It kind of evolved because we started going to Doodle Romps, mostly Long Island based at first. We would meet people that were also very much into their Doodles and loved their dogs as much as we loved Kody. It was a great way just to network and meet people.

“And Instagram was a good way to keep the connection going after the meetup. Then it kind of expanded into New York City. And that turned into birthday parties for dogs. Before I knew it, I was going to a dog birthday party every weekend. Then we started getting invited to other creative dog things like Bark Mitzvahs.

I have a job that doesn’t afford me a creative outlet. A lot of the things I’ve done with him, especially with Instagram, have been expressing myself creatively.

“As we were going around, we were meeting businesses that loved Kody. They wanted him to do modeling for them and Kody evolved into this natural in front of the camera. He would just sit there, smile, and wait for the right shot. He kind of became a trained model, which is funny. Kody modeled for a company called Brooklinen and had his photo all over the subways. We just had something recently with Target that we did. One year, we entered the Fort Greene Halloween Dog Costume Contest, which is kind of a big deal. It’s onstage…hundreds of people. I made him Oscar the Grouch and he won first place. It was incredible. He got such a roaring response from the crowd. That was a really memorable moment with Kody.

“I have a job that doesn’t afford me a creative outlet. A lot of the things I’ve done with him, especially with Instagram, have been expressing myself creatively. It brought me such joy to have an idea and then put it together with the right clothes, props, and lighting. We have a lot of fun doing it. Kody has a lot of fun doing it. And then it’s great when people love it!”