When your business is an online dog training program, who better to hire to manage your social media than, well….a dog!

I’m pleased to introduce you to Reggie, a beautiful German Shepherd Labrador Cross that I adopted last year, who has just become the first dog in the world to actively run his own social media account. Check out his story here.

Sure, there are thousands of pets who “have” their own Facebook and Instagram pages, but none of them actually run those pages for themselves – all are the byproduct of a zealous human owner. I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of those (apparently one in ten dogs in the US has a Facebook page!).

Reggie on the other hand, is different. Wearing the new Snapchat Spectacles, he uses his paw to activate the stylish specs’ camera and record 10 second snippets of life from his point of view. You can check out the videos he captures on his Snapchat account – his username is ReggieDoesSnaps. It’s a hilarious insight into what life looks like from a dog’s perspective – expect lots of tennis balls and dogs’ bums!!

This is the first time you can use Snapchat to follow a real dog, posting real-time content, on his own.

I’ve hired Reggie to produce videos for my online dog training program, Dog Zen, and to show people what life looks like from a dog’s point of view. Throughout 40 years of working with dogs, I’ve found when people understand the way their dog sees the world, they are able to build an incredibly strong bond and training becomes so intuitive. This means preventing or solving any behavioural issues or stresses they might have had is much easier, and their dog is happier as well!

This is a chance for the world to see what life looks like from a dog’s unique perspective. It’s incredibly important, because when we understand how our dog perceives the world, we can truly understand how to relate to and communicate with them in a way that is kind, loving and makes sense to them.

You also may be wondering what Reggie is getting out of this. Well, I offered him a generous pay package for the role, but he has indicated he prefers to be compensated with treats, balls and plenty of play time! But in all seriousness, we may seem barking mad to have hired a dog, but Reg loves the stimulation and enrichment he gets with learning new skills like this – and he has unlimited holiday leave to do as he pleases when he’s not out there capturing videos for us!

If you feel that Reggie looks familiar already, you’re not wrong. Reggie is no stranger to setting records and achieving world firsts – he soared to fame in 2016, when he became the first dog in the world to fly a plane as part of a British TV series ‘Dogs Might Fly’.

But life hasn’t been all fame and glory for Reggie. He was rescued in North England in 2015, where he was found wandering the streets, having been abandoned and left alone to fend for himself. He had some behavioural issues and after being rescued he struggled to find a loving home until he was scouted for the TV series.

I was the lead dog trainer that taught Reggie to fly a plane, but when training was done and the feat was achieved, I couldn’t bear to let him go. So I went through the lengthy process of bringing Reggie back to New Zealand, to join my family and live on my country property.

So when I launched Dog Zen, there seemed no better candidate for the job of managing our social media account than Reggie, so we bought a pair of Snapchat Spectacles and set about teaching him how to capture content.

Now Reggie gives the world the first true insight into a dog’s life with regular content from his escapades with me: hanging out with other dogs; helping to train problem dogs that come into my Behaviour Clinic; attending events around New Zealand; and showing everyone just how loveable and smart a rescue dog can be.

If you have a beautiful dog too and want to learn how to understand them better, how to speak their language, or how to train them – check out my Dog Zen online training program. If I can train a dog to use Snapchat with these techniques, we can sure as hell help you to teach your dog to stop barking (or any other issue!).

I hope you’ll follow Reggie on Snapchat, check out his handle @ReggieDoesSnaps or follow us on Facebook here.

All the best!