When Ivy Diep found a homeless and starving dog wantering the streets of Los Angeles in early 2014, she decided to take him home. A sad sight at first, the little pup named Popeye is now a much-loved pet with both human and canine companions to keep him company.
At around 3-4-years-old, Diep first started allowing Popeye to accompany her on foodie outings with her friend. The two woman would try new restaurants in town and post their meals on Instagram.
Popeye got to go to all the pet-friendly restaurants and proved to be a great and well-behaved companion.
He was even happy to sit still for photos in front of plates of delicious food.
The desserts on his page alone are impressive, not to mention his excellent behavior around them.
Any human would be lucky to have such self-control!
When Popeye started appearing in Diep’s Instagram posts and users commented on how much they loved seeing the little pup, Diep decided to give him his own foodie Instagram account, Popeye the Foodie Dog.
Clearly it pays to be a good boy because Popeye now has roughly 347,000 followers on his page!
And it’s no wonder he’s so popular. In addition to the amazing feat of getting a dog to behave in front of a delcious meal, he’s also game for dressing up.
Diep told ABC News:
“I shop on Amazon quite often and when I run into cute dog outfits … I can’t help myself. He wears clothes pretty well.”
And not to worry, Popeye is not allowed to indulge in food that would be unhealthy for him.
Diep says:
“We’ll give him nibbles of anything that’s safe for him. We always carry a bag of his favorite treats as well. He’s usually not really into the food anyway. He just likes to be out and about—people watching and to bark at any other dog that walks by.”
So while Popeye is no longer a hungry stray, he’s certainly not indulging in cakes and pizzas.
Of course, dogs will be dogs, and Popeye does occassionally get into a little bit of trouble:
“We do get compliments on how well behaved he is sitting in front of food. He does like to bark at any dogs that walk by, and that’s when he’s naughty.”
Popeye is quite a celebrity these days and one look at his Instagram page will give you a good indication as to why.
Recently, he’s had lattes made with his likeness…
…dressed up as everything from a lumberjack to to a musician…
…and always has a smile on his little face (at least when he’s not licking his lips).
It’s a happy ending for this little stray, who now looks like he never knew a life of lonliness on the streets. He’s got a quite the rags to riches story!
If you want to see more photos of Popeye and his culinary adventures, visit his Instagram page here.
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