Millionaire canine earns $1m as social media influencer

Meet Tucker Budzyn, a delightful purebred golden retriever in Michigan, US. This canine holds the prestigious title of the world's most adorable canine influencer at five years old.

Tucker has a large following of around 25 million people across social media. He has over 3.4 million followers on Instagram and 5.13 million on YouTube, making him one of the wealthiest dogs in the world, with an annual income of approximately $1 million (Dh3,672,200).

According to Printed Pet Memories, Tucker is also one of the highest-earning dogs in the canine community. In 2021, he was nominated for the American Influencer Awards in the Pet Influencer of the Year category.

Courtney Budzyn, the proud owner, explains how Tucker earns money through sponsored posts. According to Budzyn, a paid YouTube post can cost between $40,000 (Dh146,888) and $60,000 (Dh220,332) for a 30-minute video.

"We earn around $20,000 (Dh73,444) on Instagram by posting three to eight stories," said Budzyn.

Courtney Budzyn and Mike's golden retriever, Tucker, have been generating revenue from sponsored advertisements since age two. When Courtney got Tucker, she created his Instagram page and within a month, his first viral video was posted. Budzyn mentioned that the video showed Tucker pawing at an ice cube.

Budzyn, who was a house cleaner, decided to quit her job to take care of Tucker and his puppy son Todd full-time.

She started recording videos of him and was surprised to see how many people watched them.

Talking to the news sources, she expressed her surprise at the number of people who showed interest in her dog. She revealed that her dog had gained 60,000 followers by the time he turned 6 months old, which she found unbelievable.

In a recent social media post, Tucker and his son Todd dressed up as Princess Leia and Yoda from Star Wars.

In another post, Courtney films Tucker dreaming as he sleeps and edits in footage of a giant chicken running around their backyard being chased by Tucker.

"Never stop chasing your dreams frens," she captioned the post.

Todd and Tucker's posts on Instagram are very popular, with each post receiving over half a million likes and every YouTube video receiving more than 5 million views. Tucker, who runs a successful business with his parents, created an app called TuckerMoji that enables fans to use custom emojis and GIFs. Additionally, he has a highly successful YouTube channel with Todd called the Tucker and Todd channel.

Tucker's popularity has been boosted not only by his charm but also by Courtney's creative video ideas and skilful editing techniques, which have captured the attention of a wider audience.

The cuteness of these dogs has captured the attention of social media users, who have flooded the platform with their comments.

An Instagram user, @labradoggers commented: "I follow Tucker and Todd Budzyn. The videos add some joy to life. And they are quite well-behaved."

Another user, @goldengirl, wrote: "I am a follower of Tucker and Todd. Their videos are awesome! I love that they call her "Linda". I would be curious as to what mine call me. Actually, I don't want to know! "