A dog-weary husky with bright pink ears lounges on the hotel’s marble floor, napping before his next meet-and-greet. All around her, the atrium rings with the click of Louboutins and businessmen chatting over expensive cocktails. The stone resting place isn’t as comfortable as the plush pet bed he’s used to, but the pup’s luxurious Louis Vuitton dog vest protects him as he recovers from the hectic routine of an elite influential dog. .
More than 7.5 million followers On TikTok, Swaggy Wolfdog is a full-blown celebrity: he (or at least his team) is used to being approached by strangers who might ask for a selfie. But as I approached the elegant pup and was led by him, something possessed me. All he wanted to know was how an influential dog, or its owner, files taxes. So I asked.
It is a reasonable question. For a human influencer, creating content and building an audience is only half the battle. To make a sustainable living, creators need to know how to run their own businesses, keeping in mind the questions of whether to get an EIN number, when to register an LLC, how to budget with a variable monthly income, and how to file taxes. How much more complicated does the paperwork get when the breadwinner for the family is more than just a bone gainer?
“The dog has his own LLC, and everything the dog does, we cancel. From dog food to sometimes when we go out of town, he has his dog hotel and now he has clothes,” said Aaron Phillips, a record producer who works with the owner of Swaggy Wolfdog, a musician named Swagrman. “All of his dog food, all of his friends’ dog food…and human food, because he likes chicken.”
Swaggy’s situation is not like most influential dogs. He is defending himself from the paparazzi in hollywood boulevardlaunch pool parties with a horde of bikini-clad models, receiving scratches on the chin of the deceased juice world and hanging out backstage at a music festival with the star singer Camilla Cabello. But filing taxes can be daunting even for pets who have thousands rather than millions of followers like Swaggy.
To help manage new pet influencers, Loni Edwards, a graduate of Harvard Law School, founded The Dog Agency in 2015.
“In the past, people didn’t think of it as a business,” Edwards told TechCrunch. But when his French bulldog, Chloe, became one of the first influential pets, he saw an opportunity.
“We’d get invited to these events in New York, and when people found out I was a lawyer, they’d say, ‘Oh my gosh, I got this contract, can you help me?’” Edwards said. “And so he was unofficially going through contracts with people, helping them and guiding them.”
Now, The Dog Agency is one of the leading talent companies for pet influencers. But Edwards takes a more conservative approach to dog taxes than Swaggy’s team.
Edwards notes that the rules vary between US states and that it’s best to consult a tax advisor when running a small business. Still, he helps clients determine which of their pet expenses can be considered a business cost.
“If you have a car and you use it to work five days a week, you can write off that percentage of time you use it to work. It’s similar with dog food,” Edwards explained. “If the mascot creates content and influences half the time, then [write-off] fifty%.”
The same goes for a home office. A dog may not be typing at a desk, but the dog owner probably needs a dedicated space for recording content, editing videos, and storing pet clothing and supplies. According to the IRS, a small business owner can deduct up to $1,500 for a part of their home that is used solely and regularly as an office. Someone who commutes to an office space elsewhere wouldn’t be eligible, but you’d be hard-pressed to find an Instagram-famous pup at a WeWork.
If you’re buying an item specifically for a pet business, it’s easier, Edwards said. If he’s going to dress his Golden Retriever in an “Airbud” costume for a Halloween-themed TikTok, then that dog-sized basketball jersey would count as a cancellation.
Once your pet rises through the ranks at the dog and pony show, you might consider registering your business. According to Colleen Wilson, owner of the Pets on Q talent agency, most pet influencers don’t need an LLC until they make more than $100,000 per year.
“In our list of over 2,000 animals, you probably have fewer than 10 that have an established LLC,” Wilson told TechCrunch.
Sometimes creators set up limited liability companies for legal protection, but those concerns aren’t all that relevant to an animal. Wilson said: “It ends up being a little bit more work to set up an LLC, because the risk of them being sued like dogs is like… what are you going to do there?”
When it comes to taxes, Wilson points out that there’s a much easier way to figure out what might count as a write-off. If you are raising an animal through a registered nonprofit organization, all unreimbursed costs for pet care are tax deductible.
Beyond the dos and don’ts of tax deductibles, the business of influential pets gets even more complicated.
“For tax purposes, we first have to figure out what its valuation is,” Wilson said.
It may sound silly to quantify a dog’s commercial potential, but Pets on Q has its scientific approach. Wilson explained that pets tend to have a lower ROI on brand campaigns than a human influencer, so their sponsored post rates would be around a third lower.
Animal influencers are cheaper because a pet is generally not as strong a case for buying something as a human. Sure, Boobie Billie can model for Esquire and strike up a partnership with nordstrombut she can’t tell you if she uggs puppy run a size too big, or if she old navy dress is surprisingly preferable to her gucci cardigan.
If animal influencers aren’t as successful in sales, they can make up for it through their likeability. “They are less likely to be hated by people, like a Kardashian or a celebrity who might mess up in the future,” Wilson said.
Your pet may never be in the dog house after punishing american women for not working hard enough, but there are downsides. Pets generally do not have a very long life expectancy, which is a true corporate responsibility. Losing a loved animal can be devastating, but that grief becomes even more complex when that pet also brings home the bacon (but not literally, because the bacon can cause vomiting in dogs and cats).
Edwards experienced this firsthand when her dog Chloe the Mini Frenchie died of a unexpected medical error in 2017. She has since repurposed Chloe’s Instagram to post about her new French bulldog, emma.
Last year, beloved TikTok star Noodle the Pug passed away at the age of 14. The geriatric pup was fragile in his old age, so he went viral in 2021 when his owner, comedian Jonathan Graziano, created a game called “bones or no bones.” If Noodle could fend for himself (he had bones), that would indicate a good day, but if he didn’t have the strength (he had no bones), then perhaps it was a universal sign to wear slacks and stay inside.
Edwards represented Noodle, but doesn’t believe Noodle’s death will pose a financial hurdle for Graziano. by Graziano children’s book about noodles It’s already a New York Times bestseller, and he’s publishing another book on noodles soon.
“It’s both Jonathan and Noodle,” Edwards said. “So there’s longevity there, and Jonathan is getting ready to adopt and bring in new senior rescues, so he stays true to the theme of the account.”
Pet influence is a dog-eat-dog industry, but Wilson tries to keep his perspective.
“The amount of money that these pets and their owners make is a bit ridiculous,” he said. “Where I work, it’s a very interesting, interesting world.”
