User:Esquivalience/Marnie

Marnie the Dog, or just Marnie, is a female Shih Tzu rescue dog adopted and owned by Shirley Braha. Photos of Marnie taken by Braha have been popular, and as a result, Marnie's Instagram account has over one million followers and each of the photos are liked hundreds of thousands of times. Marnie is a senior dog (12 years old), and Braha encouraged the adoption of senior dogs during "Adopt-a-Senior-Pet Month" (a month observed by animal shelters in the United States) via Marnie's Twitter feed.

Braha meets celebrities on a regular basis due to Marnie attracting many celebrities. It was also reported that numerous celebrities have arranged meetings with Braha to meet Marnie.

History
Before Marnie was adopted, Marnie was a street dog living on the streets of Connecticut. In August 2012, Marnie was moved to an animal shelter by animal control and was nicknamed Stinky due to her pungent smell from living on the streets and various health problems such as decaying teeth.

Four months after being transferred to the animal shelter, Braha found and adopted Marnie via Petfinder, then transferred her to New York. She was told that her left eye was visually impaired, however Marnie's vision was gradually restored. Braha, in light of Marnie's health problems, didn't expect Marnie to survive for more than a couple of weeks. Braha said, while transferring Marnie via train, that it "stunk up the whole train".

After Marnie's decaying teeth were removed, Marnie's pungency was greatly reduced and was renamed from "Stinky" to "Marnie" after musician Marnie Stern.

Popularity
In 2014, Braha decided to post photos of Marnie under the Instagram handle @marniethedog. Unexpectedly, he pictures quickly became popular, and the photos started getting hundreds of thousands of Instagram "likes" per photo. Marnie started to accumulate Instagram "followers" quickly, and as a result, Marnie now has over a million followers on Instagram as of 16 Feburary 2015. Marnie has also received significant press coverage. As a response to the quick popularity, Braha said: "I was just excited that anyone cared; I never imagined she would be at the level she is now".

Marnie also has a Twitter account with the same photos, however the account has not received as much attention (c. 63,000 followers as of 16 February 2015) as the Instagram account. "Tweets" from the Twitter account have received hundreds to thousands of "retweets".

Marnie is also famous for her head tilt to the right possibly as a result of a brief case of vestibular disease. Additionally, Marnie always has her tongue exposed in photos due to the length of her tongue.

In November 2014, Braha encouraged followers of Marnie's Twitter feed to adopt a senior dog during "Adopt-a-Senior-Pet Month", saying that "Senior rescue dogs are known for being especially grateful and loyal to their new owners for giving them a second chance on life, and Marnie lives every day exemplifying this joy and gratitude".

Marnie has attracted many celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, Tina Fey, and Demi Lovato, to the point that some celebrities have even set up meetings with Marnie.