Walking through Veterans Park with Charley, it’s hard not to feel famous. Nearly everyone who passes by gawks, stares, smiles, waves. A jogger takes his headphones out to say hello. He stops people in their tracks, and with a face like his, it’s no wonder.
He’s even cuter when he slobbers.
Charley is a 2-year-old English bulldog owned by Britt Bosi and Joe Pollard of Hamilton. He has fans all over town, and even more online—11,500, to be exact. Under the handle @chunky.charley, the pooch has grown a pretty sizeable Instagram following ever since Bosi and Pollard got him.
The couple, who have been together for three years, found Charley two years ago. When Pollard, a Nottingham High School graduate, was a student at Rider University, one of his roommates had a bulldog. Pollard always had bigger dogs growing up, but the bulldog was different.
“It’s a fun breed,” he said. “He had such a personality. He was just really different than other dogs I had as a kid. They were always just dogs. But when we had the bulldog in our house, he was just fun to be around.”
When he and Bosi decided to add a new member to their family, the breed was a no-brainer. English bulldogs can be prone to certain joint, respiratory and eye issues, though, and Bosi knew it. So she researched the dogs and local breeders before settling on a safe, reputable breeder from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
The couple came across Charley shortly after he was born—and it was by pure luck. They were able to connect with him after another interested party backed out at the last minute. They drove out to meet him and fell in love with his small, soft, wrinkly body. But because he was so young, they had to wait before they could bring him home. The breeder sent pictures and videos over the next three weeks, which inspired Bosi to start the Instagram account.
“I knew I wanted to take lots of pictures of him, but I didn’t necessarily want to post them on my account,” said Bosi, who moved to Hamilton from East Windsor. “I didn’t want to flood everyone’s accounts with them. It was just nice to be able to keep track of all of his pictures in one location.”
Charley’s short legs and meaty frame were a hit from the start. He lived up to his Chunky nickname, and his pudge got him featured on another Instagram account with over 100,000 followers. That sent an influx of newcomers over to Charley’s account, and, according to a laughing Bosi, “it got kind of out of control.”
That’s not surprising to Greg Bernhardt, who owns Bag of Bones Barkery, where the couple often brings Charley.
“He’s so full of personality, even without really doing anything,” Bernhardt said. “When he came in to take pictures with Santa, I was like, ‘Charley, are you excited to see Santa?’ He looked at me, and he just kind of flattened out and started grunting. He’s such a happy soul. He doesn’t really need to do anything. You just feel good when you’re around him. We love when he comes in.”
Bosi, though, was shocked by how quickly the account took off.
“Just the amount of people that follow and have dog accounts is crazy. I never even really knew,” she said. “My intention was just to be able to post pictures and have them in one area.”
Her frame of mind is certainly different from the owners other Insta-famous pups, like Marnie (1.8 million followers) and Doug the Pug (1.2 million followers). Shirley Braha, who owns Marnie, and Doug’s owner Leslie Mosier both work full-time managing their pets’ social media accounts. Each photo or video is carefully choreographed, and many shoots are planned far in advance. Even the most basic posts are fully vetted.
That’s not the case for Bosi, who takes a much more easygoing approach to Charley’s account. When Charley was a puppy, she often posted two or three times a day, but that has slowed down to once or twice a week, especially over the last year or so. Bosi, who works as a speech therapist, is just about eight months pregnant, so life has gotten busy.
Bosi often uses her Canon camera to snap photos of Charley, either posed or candid. She’ll plan photoshoots for holidays like Christmas, when she’ll pose him in front of the tree in a festive hat. Other times, he’s just doing something funny, so she’ll snap a photo on a whim. When she posts, she uses hashtags, like #bulldogsofinstagram, which allows more users to find him.
“The great thing about him is he always just looks so unamused,” she said. “You can do the craziest things to him, and he’ll just have the same face. He’s just completely uninterested. I think that’s why he’s so entertaining, in a sense. I’ll dress him up crazy, give him flowers. Pretty ridiculous things. He just has the same look on. He looks so funny all the time.”
She’s not kidding. He’ll wear neckties, T-shirts and even doggie tuxedos without putting up any kind of a fight. Bosi even got him to hold a rose in his mouth last Valentine’s Day (thorns removed, of course). His unaffected facial expressions and demeanor are part of what make him so popular. How many dogs do you know who will sit still while wearing a pirate hat, totally deadpan?
What makes it even easier is that Charley knows when he’s about to be photographed, so he sits still and waits when the camera comes out—even if he has to be bribed with a baby carrot every once in awhile.
“I think because [Bosi] has been taking pictures of him for so long, he’s just used to it,” said Pollard, an English teacher at Hamilton West and assistant wrestling coach at Rutgers. “He’ll bounce around for a little while, but once she really starts taking pictures, he just waits.”
Charley’s easy manner has benefitted him and his owners in other ways besides followers, as well. He’s won contests for items like a Benebone chew toy (his favorite) and a Whistle Tracker, which is basically a Fitbit for dogs. That ended up proving to be pretty useful, letting Bosi and Pollard know if Charley didn’t reach his recommended 50 minutes of daily activity.
“We were like, ‘Wow, he really is lazy,’” she said. “We track his play, his walks, his sleep patterns. It was great for him, especially for his breed. They are low-energy, but they do need exercise.”
And the couple makes sure he gets it. His daily routine includes three 15-minute walks a day with Pollard, Bosi, Pollard’s parents or Pollard’s niece.
He takes different routes with each person, so he’s met lots of friends along the way, some of whom surprise even Pollard and Bosi, who are engaged to be married later this year.
“It’s almost like he has a routine,” Pollard said. “When I take him on walks, I go a certain way. He’ll stop at certain places every day. If he knows there’s a dog in a house, even if it’s not outside, he’ll stand and wait, like, ‘Are you coming out?’ He rememebrs the neighborhood and remembers the people. My mom or niece will take him for walks, and people will say hi to him. I’m like, ‘Who are you?’”
He’ll have another new buddy when the new baby comes home.
“We’re both kind of excited for him for the the baby because he has such a personality, and he’s so good with kids,” Pollard said. “He’s so used to getting all the attention, though. He’ll be laying in his chair moping for a couple of days, I’m sure.”
For now, though, Charley is enjoying naps and cuddling with Bosi, who said she’s been getting more tired the further along she gets. Charley has been the perfect companion.
“He always wants to be around people. He hates being alone,” Pollard said. “If you’re anywhere near him, he has to be touching you. He has to have contact with you. For me, no matter how good or bad your day is, he’s exactly the same. He’s so excited every day. You never come in the door without him racing to meet you.”
You can find Charley on Instagram at @chunky.charley.
An Instagram account featuring Charley has gained 11,500 followers.,
