On a bleak-for-Los Angeles morning this month, Kelly Oxford — author, mother, social media activist and provocateur — sat in a coffee shop where she had never been before, tapping away texts to her mom and friends, and talking about her late dog Lou, a toy poodle who was made so popular by her Instagram feed that he has attracted his own press attention. Lou’s death has disrupted not only Ms. Oxford’s life, but also her daily routine.

“I basically got the dogs to take over for all of the stuff the kids didn’t need me to do,” she began, sipping a mocha as she reflected on the dynamic that Lou, who was a year old when he died, and her other dog, Archie, a 2-year-old sheepdog-poodle mix, have played in her family.

“Once the kids didn’t need me to help them in the bathroom and stopped asking me if I could get them water, they became annoyed with me,” she said, adding: “That’s why I love my dogs, because someone does need me to pick up their poop, someone does need me to put out their water. All these skills I spent 10 years working on, I had good use for them still.”