@zzzzaaaacccchhh
IT’S A FRIDAY afternoon, and I’m sitting in a conference room in New York City, listening to Katie Sturino boast about her “daughter’s” celebrity admirers. “Reese Witherspoon follows her,” she says. “Drew Barrymore follows her. That girl from Pretty Little Liars follows her. She has a lot of random celebrity followers, which is really cool.”
Her “daughter” is a dog named Toast, a 10-year-old ruby Cavalier with marble-round eyes and an unreasonably long tongue that flops out the side of her mouth. And for thousands of pet-inclined internet users, Toast is the celebrity. “Probably like three or four times a day, people stop and take pictures,” says Sturino. “We were at an adoption event last week, and this woman came from Sweden and was like, ‘I was so excited! I thought I wouldn’t meet you.’” All for a dog whose primary skill appears to be sleeping.