Most of what I know about taking care of Henry has come from chatting with fellow dog moms and reaching out to the online dog community. I’ve made so many awesome encounters and I want to share them all with you!

As part of a new series of blog posts, I’ll be interviewing a new dog mom every week! These dog moms are inspiring to me, and I know you’ll just love reading about them. We’ll talk about everything related to dog mom life, from daily dog struggles, to social media, to running a dog-biz. To give you a small peek at what’s to come, today’s post will be more about me, Cara, the author behind the blog posts and the dog-momager behind Henry’s Instagram account. Below, I tackle two big questions that I think will allow you to get to know me better. Let’s have a dog mom talk!

How has being a dog mom impacted your life?

As someone who lives with anxiety, there are certain triggers that I’ve been learning to cope with. These triggers can set off loads of negative feelings, like a sense of impending doom in the pit of my stomach, feelings of panic or just a general uneasiness. Going somewhere alone, worrying about other people’s opinions, being in a social situation where I don’t know anyone: all these are typical situations that can result into angry outbursts, full-blown meltdowns and/or panic attacks. The smallest of things can set off my anxiety, and it can be very difficult to understand from an outside perspective, because it’s often misinterpreted as overreacting.

However, ever since Henry’s come into my life, I’ve found it so much easier to go places alone and talk to people. The dog community, specifically the cavalier community, has been SO welcoming, even before I had a dog. In fact, our first couple of cavalier meetups were before we even had Henry. The energy in the room was so joyful and positive that just being in the presence of all these other dog moms and dads and their cavaliers made me simply at ease. I felt this sense of belonging that brought on a wave of calm; I felt like I could finally relax and be myself.

Do you ever feel pressure to post on your blog or on social media?

Henry The Smol is essentially a passion project. I love the creativity it brings out of me and I love that it’s something the three of us—Henry’s dad, Henry and I—can do together. I enjoy the process of thinking of an aesthetic for the Instagram feed, coming up with blog post concepts, creating photoshoot ideas, taking pictures, writing captions and engaging in others’ content on social. I now know that content creation is a full-time job!

I love the online dog community, specifically on Instagram. Knowing that Henry’s social media accounts and the blog are received with so much positivity makes it that much more fun to post. But social media can be tricky. It’s easy to see all these perfect photos and well-crafted blog posts and start to doubt if what you’re doing is “good enough”.