Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Friday, March 29, 2024
NEWS  |  CAMPUS

Blogger gains large following for pictures of food on his dog

Andrew Small didn’t think he was looking at an Internet star when a skinny puppy wandered out of the woods near his bus stop in Crystal River. The 11-year-old just thought he found the dog he had always longed for.

This year, Small, now 17, and his dog Tiger, now 7, have achieved unexpected fame after he started a blog featuring pictures of Tiger balancing food on her head.

The blog, foodonmydog, shows picture after picture of the brindle Staffordshire terrior-bulldog mix sitting frozen, managing everything from a taco to a stack of pancakes to a few Twinkies.

CNN and Buzzfeed recently ran stories about the blog’s unusual nature.

“On the Internet, people like animals and funny things to look at to waste time,” Small said. “It fits perfectly.”

It was Small’s father who trained Tiger to do tricks like balancing a treat on her nose.

One day in late December 2011, Small thought it would be funny to balance leftover sandwich ingredients on Tiger’s head and take some pictures.

“I sent it to my friends and they all thought it was really funny,” he said, “so I kept doing it.”

After a month, he and Tiger had 150 followers on Tumblr. In one day in January, the number jumped about 2,000. CNN took notice, airing a short piece a few days later with several pictures of Tiger balancing food.

Foodonmydog now has about 21,000 followers. Small hired a press agent and made a deal to receive commission from a T-shirt company that prints pictures of Tiger. He is also working on a plan to change the domain name from a Tumblr address to its own URL.

His sister, Amanda, is a second-year pharmacy student at UF. She runs the foodonmydog Facebook page and is still shocked by her dog’s newfound fame.

“It blows my mind,” the 21-year-old said. “I have a T-shirt with my dog’s face on it — it’s surreal.”

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox
Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.