Insider: DOG magazine

Using a rare breed as its entry point, DOG magazine explores the lives of dogs and their owners in modern cities. For issue one, the Stabyhoun (below) is in the spotlight and the magazine describes its temperament, visits its hometown in the Netherlands, and profiles some four-legged locals.

Other breeds are also shown, from Peggy Guggenheim’s Lhasa Apsos to Ukrainian street dogs. Curious about puppy photoshoots and the (undoubtedly fun) process of making this magazine, we spoke to editors Julian Victoria and Emily Rogers, and publisher Olivier Cardon.

In the making of this issue we…

Explored
The concept of DOG is to choose an unusual dog breed, profile it and explore its native territory. We opted for the Stabyhoun, travelled to its homeland of Friesland, explored some of the towns, learnt about the history and language and, most importantly, met the dogs. We drove around Friesland and stopped in the middle of nowhere every time we spotted one. We definitely scared a few people – we were convinced that the police thought we were a pair of dog snatchers!

Were inspired by
We’re fascinated by the independent magazine movement we are seeing at the moment, and one of the publications that really interested us was Hello Mr. We had the chance to meet the creator of the magazine who inspired us to get the ball rolling. Then we started looking at other publications like Cereal, The Gentlewoman, Intern and Printed Pages for design inspiration.

Listened to
Oh wow, this is such an embarrassing question! Please don’t hold it against us…

Met
So many creative and talented people, from illustrators to photographers and writers. And of course, we met a lot of dogs and their owners. We were amazed by how the dogs seemed to mirror their owners’ personalities.

Learned
Working with dogs is not always easy! We kept forgetting that dogs don’t react to directions like humans do: saying “chin down” or “turn to the right” does not work… Just ask Jonathan Pryce who shot our ‘Dog + Man’ story! (above)

Ate/drank
While in the Netherlands we ate a lot of krokettens (croquettes) and when we say a lot, we mean A LOT. We also drank litres of beer just to keep up with the Dutch. And obviously, during those late nights, strong coffee is a must.

Lost sleep over
Not being able to finish the magazine on time. We told the printers a date and we were really worried that we wouldn’t meet it. That, and having piles of stories in our inbox waiting to be edited. It felt like we’d never get there, but we did.

Were excited about
Seeing DOG being printed. We couldn’t wait to flip through the pages and hold that first copy. It was a really proud moment to see everyone’s work come together and to share it with our followers and all of our wonderful contributors.

Couldn’t stop laughing at
Julian being humped by dogs all the time!

And everyone should buy a copy because
We all love dogs and we want to share their stories with you. We’ve worked with some fantastic photographers, writers and illustrators, and this is such an exciting platform to see their work.

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