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6 Things We Learned Doing a Photo Shoot With the Most Famous Dog on the Internet

Tuna graced the E! News offices with his presence and posed for some pictures

By John Boone Apr 08, 2014 7:46 PMTags
Tuna DogChristina Mack

Meet Tuna. Though, you probably already know Tuna, don't you?

After all, the Chiweenie (that's park Chihuahua, part dachshund) is the most famous dog on the Internet, with over 750,000 Instagram followers who love the daily pictures showing off his signature overbite. Just look at this face:

Tuna has a pretty incredible story too. He was found abandoned on the side of a highway near San Diego and brought to a farmers market in Los Angeles, where his mama was drawn to his Mr. Burns-like looks and adopted him. A couple of years later, and he's happy, healthy, and famous! 

And as all famous people do, now he's going on tour! But before he heads out, Tuna was nice enough to pay a visit to the E! News offices, where he sat for an exclusive photo shoot. Here's what we learned photographing the most famous dog on the web.

1. Like most celebrities, you might not recognize Tuna if you spotted him on the street (or at the dog park, the groomer, etc.) In person, Tuna looks like a regular old Chiweenie—until he lays on his back. That's when his overbite really shines!

Christina Mack

2. Tuna arrived with plenty of wardrobe options for our shoot. Because Tuna has a huuuuge wardrobe (and a fancy one too—cashmere, anyone?) We still don't know exactly how many outfits he owns, but we learned that a lot of them are gifts from fans. Including this tuxedo:

Christina Mack

3. When you're working with a pooch, even a pooch that's used to doing photo shoots, it's all about the incentives: Tuna's mom stood behind the photographer to keep him focused, with "Want a cracker?" or, the one that surprised us, "Wanna go outside and go pee-pee?" Hey, whatever works!

(For the record, Tuna got all of the treats he was promised! And somehow still managed to fit into all of his cute little outfits! He must have one of those celebrity personal trainers to keep him in shape.)

Christina Mack

4. Tuna is very in touch with his feminine side when he's shooting: On set, he responded to Tuna, but preferred to be called "Mommy" or "Tuna Marie."

Christina Mack

5. Work hard, play harder. And it wasn't hard to make time for playing during the shoot. If anything, it was harder to stop playing with Tuna and his toys and actually take the pictures.

Tuna's favorite toy of the day? It's a tie between a orange squeaky shaped like a balloon animal and his Easter bunny costume, which he liked chewing on better than he liked wearing it!

Christina Mack

6. He's no diva. Actually, Tuna may be the easiest celeb we've ever worked with.

It didn't hurt that he's the only star we've worked with that gave us kisses the whole time.

Now Tuna is kicking off the Tuna Tour, sponsored by BarkBox! The East Coast tour will hit eight cities in 24 days (including Chicago, Boston and New York). There will be meet and greets and some special dinners, all to raise awareness for pet adoption and funds for rescue groups. 

Get more info about Tuna's tour, and make sure to follow him at @tunameltsmyheart

And for those West Coasters who want to meet Tuna, a little puppy hinted there might be a tour coming to this side of the country soon. Better start practicing your Tuna face now...