Riley, 6, mini goldendoodle // “Riley enjoys napping turf-side of field hockey games.” @leighfernandez23

A post shared by @bowdoindogspotter on Sep 30, 2017 at 8:52am PDT

Local dog owners, allegedly, love to dish about their dogs. If you ask someone walking their pup across campus if you can pat their pet’s furry little head, you often get treated to a story or interesting biographical dog fact. This is according to the first-year student who keeps up the popular Instagram account, @bowdoindogspotter. (She prefers to remain anonymous.) “As soon as you start petting and talking about the dog, they’ll start talking. People love talking about their dogs,” she said, adding, “and I also hearing love hearing about them.”

The Bowdoin dogspotter account is similar to a site kept up by a dog lover in New York City, The Dogist, which in turn is somewhat similar to the Humans of New York project. Both sites profile strangers encountered on the streets with a photo and personal anecdote.

The most difficult part of the bowdoindogspotter operation is photographing squiggly, wiggly puppies, but bowdoindogspotter can’t resist them. “Puppies have the best expressions,” she said.

So bowdoindogspotter often takes as many as twenty shots to get a keeper, even when she’s profiling an older, more sedate dog. The ultimate prize — a sweet smile. “Everyone loves a smiling dog!” she said.

(Bowdoindogspotter also welcomes tips. So if a local Brunswick resident, professor, or student is out and about walking their adorable dog, message her and let her know where they are!)

Mabel, golden retriever // “She goes into elementary schools and the kids read to her. She mostly licks the floor.”

A post shared by @bowdoindogspotter on Dec 11, 2017 at 8:06am PST

Huckleberry, 11 months, lab mix // “In the tricks class, he was afraid of the training clicker and would hide under the chair. So the teacher switched him to a circus class where he learned to ride a skateboard.”

A post shared by @bowdoindogspotter on Sep 7, 2017 at 5:11pm PDT

Daisy, 9, basset hound // “She’s an accomplished thief. She can open zipped bags and jars of peanut butter.”

A post shared by @bowdoindogspotter on Oct 15, 2017 at 1:53pm PDT

Scout, 3 months, mutt // “She’s a rescue from New Mexico.”

A post shared by @bowdoindogspotter on Oct 25, 2017 at 9:23am PDT

Carmen Lucia, mixed breed // “We just came from modeling together at Drawing I.”

A post shared by @bowdoindogspotter on Dec 8, 2017 at 6:40am PST

Otto, mini Australian Shepherd, & Phoebe, schnauzer corgi mix // “A Bowdoin alum who’s training at Tufts recently fixed Phoebe’s heart.”

A post shared by @bowdoindogspotter on Dec 3, 2017 at 2:28pm PST

Ponderosa/Ponder, 1, mini pinscher-whippet-hound mix// “He loves chasing squirrels, but we never had to worry about what would actually happen if he caught one until we brought him to Bowdoin, home of the fattest squirrels.” -@thewesternsneak

A post shared by @bowdoindogspotter on Oct 2, 2017 at 6:09am PDT

Mack, 6 months, black lab // “He was training to be a bomb-sniffing dog but didn’t make the cut.”

A post shared by @bowdoindogspotter on Nov 4, 2017 at 8:48am PDT