Free Dog Highlight Covers for your Pup’s Instagram

If you are a fellow dog mom/dog lover who has hundreds of photos of their dog and decided to make an Instagram account to chronicle your adventures, you are not alone. There’s only so many pictures you can upload of your pup on your personal social media accounts before your family says “okay I get it! Your dog is cute.” If you are on the hunt to “up” your dog’s IG account’s aesthetic, these dog highlight covers are a perfect way to add a little something. Best part? They’re totally free and come in a pink or neutral set. Feel free to download both if you fancy!

(download links for your free dog highlight covers can be found below at the end of this post↓)

What are Highlights on Instagram?

Instagram highlights are simply the Instagram stories you choose to “live” on your profile permanently. The traditional IG story expires within 24 hours, however if you add it to your highlights, viewers can watch your stories in the future. Instagram covers are cute icon pictures that can help separate your highlights into different categories such as travel, food, adventure, pet care, dog accessories, etc.

Who Can See my Highlights on Instagram?

A public profile means anyone who lands on your Instagram account can view your highlights. If you have chosen to keep your account private, only your followers will be able to view your IG highlights just like the rest of your profile. If you are trying to become a pet influencer and working on growing your dog’s account or brand then you will want to leave your pup’s Instagram public.

How to Create Instagram Icons and Use the Dog Highlight Covers

Before going into the actual step-by-step on how to use IG Highlights, my advice would be to decide on several categories you would like to feature on your profile. For your dog’s Instagram account, popular categories or instagram highlight names could be…

• Dog Accessories
• Adventures
• Training
• Dog Treats
• Links (past stories with links to your favorite pet products)
• Behind-the-scenes (BTS)

These are just examples. The categories can be anything you feel fits you and your pup’s lifestyle. Now on to the info on how to create these on your profile.

1. Open your dog’s IG account
2. Scroll down until you see the white circle with the plus sign that says “New” below it. Click on the plus (+) sign.
3. It should take you to a library of past stories you have posted. Click on the stories you would like included in the specific category you have in mind. For example, if you are doing homemade dog treats as one of your categories, upload several stories of you making different dog treat recipes.
4. It will then take you to a screen where you can edit the cover (use my FREE Instagram dog covers) and name the category. DONE! Easy right?!

•  FYI- You will need to add your icon pictures (aka the highlight covers) as an “IG story” first before it will give you the option to use it as a a cover photo.

How to Delete Instagram Story Highlights

Whether you want to delete a specific story on your highlights or the entire highlight category entirely, it is easy to do.

Delete a Specific Story From Highlights

1. Click on your IG profile icon in the right hand corner
2. Scroll down to your Highlights
3. Click on the specific Highlight icon you want to delete the story from
4. Click on the three small dots in the right hand corner that states “more”
5. Press “Remove from Highlight.”

Delete the Entire Highlight Category 

1. Click on your Instagram profile
2. Scroll down to your highlights
3. Press and hold the icon category you would like to delete (for 3 seconds or so)
4. Click “Delete Highlight”

How to Become a Pet Influencer

Whether you are thinking about starting an Instagram or want to grow your account, here are some tips that will be helpful with that goal.

1. You MUST have good quality photos. This does not mean you have to buy an expensive camera, nowadays iphones can take nice-looking photos. Level up your photos with pre-sets. This will help to give your photos a cohesive look. I use the app Lightroom and buy pre-sets from Etsy. Another popular editing app is Snapseed.
2. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. It truly is important. You can’t upload 30 posts one month and then ghost your audience for the next three. You have to show up on a consistent basis. If this means 3 posts a week, then make sure you show up. You want to prove to your audience that you are reliable.
3. Engage with your Community. One of the best aspects of Instagram is the community feeling of it. If people are taking time out of their day to comment on your pictures, make sure to reply back to them. Another idea is to get their feedback. What do your IG followers want to see more of from your content?
4. Use Video. We all know that every social media platform is favoring video right now. You don’t have to go overboard with video content if that is not your thing but try and incorporate it into your content plan. I was hesitant to do this with my dog account at first, but I actually found it fun to make reels with my dogs.
5. Write good captions. Even though people see a photo first, the caption is what tells the story. If you are looking for some cute or catchy captions, check out our post on Dog Mom Captions here.