Many animal owners may put their pets on a pedestal, but some take their admiration online.
The owners of Crusoe, a spunky dachshund, have posted videos of their beloved pet that have drawn a billion views and 3 million followers.
Crusoe is a celebrity dachshund thanks to many photo shoots with homemade costumes and the diligence of his adoptive human parents, Ryan Beauchesne and Lauren Dionne, both from outside of Ottawa, Canada.
10-year-old boy with diabetes got a dog who monitors his blood-sugar levelsIt’s Crusoe’s personality that inspires the posts by Beauchesne, who acts as the pup's manager.
“He is a little bit of a diva,” said Beauchesne. “He is a little bit sassy.”
The dog's appeal is that everything is “from his perspective, how the world revolves around him,” Beauchesne said. “People kind of get a laugh because, of course, every dog kind of expects everything from their owners.”
When Crusoe was about a year old, his owners started a blog that was meant to be a side project, but the audience grew exponentially within a year.
“Some of the first videos that went viral … a lot of them were just him in some sort of crazy, wacky outfit,” said Beauchesne. “That image of a cute little dog in this crazy outfit just really appealed to people.”
Dionne said, “Ryan and Crusoe have a really strong bond and they're together 24-7.”
“Ryan's always doing some videos, filming, so they have this kind of unique friendship,” she said.
Crusoe and Beauchesne have won a book deal, met hundreds of the dachshund's fans while on tour, and own a closet full of homemade costumes and gifts from fans.
“They say you should do what you love for a living, and mine is to spend time with my dog,” said Beauchesne. “I'm so appreciative of that every day.”
As Crusoe's fame was soaring, just over a year ago, he had to undergo emergency surgery on his spine.
“We noticed he was going wobbly, in the back legs,” Beauchesne said. “And at that point, you have pretty much 24 hours to do the surgery or they can be completely paralyzed.”
“Our hearts just sank,” he said.
Crusoe needed to relearn how to walk, and through recovery, his owners received an outpouring of support with thousands of letters and gifts of squeaky toys from Crusoe’s fans, also known as Cru’s crew.
"Sometimes I look at it and think, 'Is this just silly what we're doing? Making silly little dog videos,'" said Beauchesne.
"But when it does make a difference to somebody’s life or bring them that daily joy that they really appreciate, I feel like we're making some sort of little difference to the world," he said.