Occasionally, I see older articles about viral animals being recirculated and I wonder what’s happening in that animal’s life.
Did they go onto further stardom and begin to live the #influencer lifestyle, or did they simply get a bump in Instagram followers and just go about their cute little lives?
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It’s particularly fascinating to check in on pets who went viral when they were just babies.
So when I spotted the puppy pics of a chow chow named Chief making the rounds again, I decided to check his Instagram.
Chief shot to viral fame when his puppy photo was shared on the Facebook group Dogspotting Society in early 2020.
Thanks to his very striking coat, commenters dubbed him an Oreo Cloud and the pics ended up being shared everywhere.
Now though, he’s much more of a cookies and cream lion.
Even though he’s still less than a year old, Chief is already more than 50 pounds and seems destined to get bigger. The average weight of a male chow chow is 50-90 pounds.
As for the influencer part, Chief and his humans mostly aren’t interested. They’ve done a few sponsorships with brands they already liked, but otherwise Chief is just like every other doggo.
The one issue that’s really caused problems is the use of his puppy photos in scams.
Smart scammers are constantly using his photos to sell unrelated or even nonexistent puppies to unsuspecting people.
Which is a good reminder of why when looking to adopt of puppy from a breeder, you should do plenty of research to ensure they are reputable and follow all animal health and safety regulations.
But while those scammers are listing fakes, Chief himself is 100% real.
Just look at that majestic salt and pepper mane! He must be such a good snuggle bear.
If you’d like to follow Chief as he keeps on growing up, you can do so on Instagram @theoreocloud .