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August nudged him with her foot. “Don’t say that.”
“I can do one better.” He snapped his fingers. “She has narcissistic tendencies and loves taking selfies.”
He was just trying to wind her up now.
“First, dogs don’t have opposable thumbs so they can’t even take selfies. Second, your sister is trying to make it on social media! Do you think she’s egotistical and narcissistic?”
“Of course not, but she’s trying to make a difference and help people. Most content creators are only in it for the free shit.”
She shook her head. The man wassocynical. “That’s nottrue. Social media provides connection. It’s a way to find people who like the same things you do and build friendships over shared passions.”
“All while retouching your photos so that people only see a curated, distorted version of reality.” He shot her a condescending look. “So much for human connection.”
It was tough to argue with him there. August had fed her insecurities many times in her younger years while scrolling through picture after picture of women with appearances that were different from hers. She’d never been able to tan worth a damn, and she’d always been short and solidly built, even as a kid. Add to that her ginger hair, which in her late twenties was already speckled with glittering silver strands, and her short, stubby eyelashes, which were a pale gold and resistant to any kind of curling.
And Keaton was right; these days everything was retouched, and there were even filters on Instagram that changed the shape of your face in video! You could have bigger eyes, plumper lips and a less-rounded face with nothing more than the click of the button. She hated that. Hated that it made young girls think there was only one acceptable way to look. Hated that even as a successful businesswoman who’d worked hard to love herself, she still had days where she cringed looking in the mirror.
Social media had a lot to answer for.
“All the more reason to support Isla’s business,” August said. “Her whole mission is about making the internet a happier, furrier place. We love animals just as they are—weird and wonderful and in all shapes and sizes. It’s a good lesson.”
“I don’t love that one and I suspect the feeling is mutual.” Keaton eyed Molly. “But we should be prepared. Okay, so the photo shoot is after lunch. Then what?”
August grabbed the schedule from her bag and scanned it.
“There’s going to be a social media workshop tomorrow morning, which you can skip because they’ve agreed to let Leah Skype in, since she would be the client and not you. For the afternoon, they’ve brought in a trainer to help assess how well the animals take instruction.”
“Again? Why do they need to be so well trained if they’re only taking a picture for Instagram?”
“It’swaymore than that.” August shook her head. “They’re booking animals for commercial shoots, and one of their clients recently got a cameo in a movie, so they need to know what the animal’s capabilities are. It’s one thing to have a dog sit and stay for a photo, but it’s quite another to have them running around or doing things on command for film.”
“Right.” Keaton sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. He was definitely in over his head. “Okay, what else is there?”
“Day three is the final ten contestants. There’s another elimination round in the morning, but the schedule is a little vague on how that will run.” She shrugged. “I guess they might want to see what other information they might need. There’s time booked for the ‘getting to know you’ interviews as well. In the afternoon there’s a proper photo shoot for a brand, which the top five animals will participate in.”
Keaton nodded. “Well, we better get our shit together, then. Right, Molly?”
The husky lifted her head up and looked closely at him, as if assessing whether she should care about what he was saying. Or maybe it only seemed that way. Molly was a beautiful dog, but the black markings around her facedidmake it look like she had a permanently judgmental expression.
August had seen Leah’s submission video for the competition and it totally played to Molly’s strengths, giving off aGossip Girl–esque kind of vibe, but from the POV of the dog. Now that was a reboot August would watch! And it appeared as though Leah had taken inspiration from the original The Dachshund Wears Prada Instagram account that had been the catalyst for Isla’s business, back when she’d been a dog sitter for one of the richest men in Manhattan, her now husband, Theo.
But rather than feeling derivative, Leah had infused the video with her own unique flair. Unfortunately, Keaton and Molly did not have the same chemistry. In fact, they hadnochemistry...and neither one of them seemed inclined to change that.
“Maybe we need to do some kind of a bonding exercise to get Molly to trust you,” August said.
“Why don’t we have an exercise to makemetrusther?” Keaton grumbled.
“Um, how about becauseyou’rethe adult in this situation.”
“She’s seven. That’s forty-nine in dog years, so technically—”
August held up her hand. “Maybe this is the problem. You’re expecting her to do all the work when she’s the animal. Smart as she may be, she still takes her cues from us.”
“Fine. What do I need to do?”
“For starters, you’re going to be the one feeding her from now on. We’ll even try some hand-feeding, too. Showing her that you provide something she wants and needs is an important way to build a bond. But since we’re also on a time crunch, we need to do other things as well.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “Like what?”
