“I started doing it when we got Charlie, (a 3-year-old Golden Retriever) when he was a puppy. It started on Instagram. I posted pictures and little, silly videos just to document him growing up and then it took off,” Dixon said.
Dixon began focusing on making three to five minute videos for Facebook and “that’s when it really took off.”
The videos include Charlie and her three other dogs: Buddy, a 7-year-old Golden Retriever; Daisy, a 1 1/2-year-old Landseer Newfoundland; and Herbie, a 14-week-old Landseer Newfoundland.
The videos have various themes featuring shenanigans, news segments and a favorite duck toy. Dixon said a fan-favorite is a segment called “Annoying my dogs by doing things that they do.”
“It’s just me acting like a complete fool doing things that they would do like running through the house barking, barking at birds, someone rings the doorbell and taking off running, or bothering you while you’re taking a bath,” Dixon said.
She said making the videos can take around 30 minutes to an entire day depending on whether or not her dogs need a break.
“The real time consuming part is actually sitting down, putting all the video clips together and editing them,” Dixon said.
She told the News-Sun that she did not have prior experience video editing other than making short videos on Vine, a social networking site featuring six or seven second videos. She said she has acquired video editing skills over the years.
One of her most popular videos on Facebook, “Human Washes Dogs Favorite Duck Toy,” has 85K likes, 8.3K shares and 3.6K comments.
In the last year, one of her YouTube videos, “The Difference Between My 3 Dogs,” received 1.6M views.
Dixon said she continues to make and post the videos because of the responses she has received.
“I do it mainly because just over the years I’ve gotten so many messages, emails and comments about how my videos have helped people through a rough patch like a divorce, a death of a loved one, or especially now with the pandemic going on,” Dixon said. “I know that they are helping others.”
She added that she enjoys seeing viewers’ reactions to her videos.
To view her videos, search for Charlie The Golden on Facebook, Charlie The Golden 18 on YouTube or @charlie_the_golden18 on Instagram.
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