MORELL, P.E.I. — A local rabbit has become a global star on social media.
Scott and Faith Dockendorff bought their daughter, Chloe, a free-run Holland lop dwarf rabbit in 2016 for her 15th birthday.
Chloe named her three-pound pet Winston (she wanted to give him a human name) and began to post numerous pictures of him on her Instagram account.
“I was obsessed with him and was taking pictures of him all the time and putting them on my own Instagram and it started to occur to me that my friends were getting sick of seeing pictures of my bunny every day,’’ Chloe laughs.
So, she gave Winston his own account and called it @winston.snugglebunny. And, thanks to the creative writing of Chloe and Faith, who also take pictures and videos to post (Chloe's brother, Seth, helps with the pictures and video), the account had 20,600 followers as of Jan. 3. Winston’s exploits are followed by people all over the world.
One devoted follower in Australia, whose bunny died, put together a collage of pictures of Winston from Winston's Instagram account, had them imprinted onto a pet blanket and mailed it to the Dockendorffs in P.E.I. Another follower, from Portugal, sent them a fuzzy bed that Winston sleeps in.
Chloe, who is studying dance at the Maritime Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Halifax, struggles to find the words to explain the phenomenon.
“It’s partly the way we write him,’’ she said. “We write things in the captions that are sort of fun and whimsical and then (followers) respond and we play off them and they play off us.’’
But, it’s not just exchanging messages with followers. Faith said Chloe's gift for creative writing (the youngster has won literary competitions) has turned the account into something out of a Hollywood move.
“There’s a lot of suspension of disbelief that goes on with (Winston’s) account,’’ Chloe says. “We try to be very creative.’’
When it comes to writing the captions for Winston's pictures and video, Chloe has given Winston a personality, a voice that includes words they come up with on the fly and adventures created for him that sometimes include illustrations and music. The family has dubbed its fur baby the “self-entitled king of Winstonia’’, a rabbit who is endlessly annoyed by the shortcomings of his human caretakers.
Chloe said the account is strictly monitored at all times to ensure it remains “family friendly, a safe space for people to come to see things that will make them happy.’’
Although Chloe lives off-Island during the school year, Winston's paws remainly firm planted in Morell.
Chloe said she misses him a lot when she's away, but her mom sends her lots of pictures and videos and "we Facetime every night''.
Faith said the bond between Chloe and Winston is amazing.
"She might not see him in person for a couple of months, but the instant she walks in he knows her and the second she touches him he just melts into the floor. When he hears her voice on my iPad during Facetime he usually comes over sniffing it,'' Faith said. "I don't think he can figure out how she gets in there.''
Faith said it’s been very rewarding for the whole family, adding that they didn't go into this looking to solicit anything from people. It was just meant to be fun and has since grown into something bigger than they imagined.
“Not a week goes by that we don’t get a comment or a (direct message) from someone saying ‘I was having the worst day’, ‘I was really sad’ or ‘things weren’t going well and I opened my phone and there was Winston’s account and it just made my day better’. Just getting messages like that are encouraging for us,’’ said Faith.
Seth said outside of his social media-created character, Winston is a very loving bunny, even if he does chew through cords and constantly eat the buttons on the remote.
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