After Being Bitten as a Puppy, Viral Dog Turns ‘Picasso’ Face Injury Into Social Media Stardom: ‘A Beacon of Light’

One adorable dog is spreading joy with a unique twist.

Brodie, a 6-year-old mixed breed with an off-kilter snout, has amassed more than 1.5 million followers on his Instagram and TikTok pages showing glimpses of his day-to-day life.

But back in 2019, he was just another dog looking for a chance.

“He was born at a rescue called Old Macdonald Kennels and his dog mom was a 10-month-old stray,” Amanda Richter, his now-owner, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue. “She bit him on the head when he was about 2 weeks old. They thought he was going to grow normally, and maybe it was wishful thinking — but as he got older, his face just started to get a little twistier.”

Related: Picasso, a Dog Born with a Crooked Face, Finds Home with His Rescuer: 'He Is Magical' (Exclusive)

Partially blind in one eye and with a slightly shut jaw, Brodie might have required "a little extra care," but that didn’t stop Richter, 35, from falling in love when she first saw him on the shelter’s Facebook page in 2019.

“The moment I saw his picture on Facebook, I fell in love with his face … It’s clearly hard not to because the whole world seems to have fallen in love with it,” the Canada-based photographer says about discovering Brodie.

“I was like, ‘I need to go meet this dog,’ and I went and met Brodie and it was love at first sight," Richter continues. "We came home with him the same day.”

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After settling into their new life together, Richter noticed comments from people who had seen Brodie on the shelter's Facebook page and asked that the adopter continue to share updates themselves.

“I decided to do it, because who doesn’t love taking pictures of their dog? And it just blew up,” Richter says. “Amanda Seyfried, Leona Lewis and Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump all follow. It’s hilarious to me.”

Referring to Brodie as a work of art that “truly embodies Picasso’s artwork” — “everything's slightly out of place and different and crooked and just, you could literally put him next to one of those paintings and it looks like him,” she says — Richter believes it’s his character that has attracted the world to him.

“People just love him. He's a beacon of light, I think, for people,” she says. “He has so much love from around the world, and people do think he's beautiful, even though he is so not the typical-looking dog.”

It was through Brodie’s Instagram that Richter added another member to her family. “One of his followers messaged me in 2022 about a dog up for adoption in Texas, saying I had to help her, and I instantly fell in love. It was meant to be,” Richter says of her now 4-year-old mixed breed, Raven, who also has a “twisted” snout from the abuse she suffered in a previous home.

Related: Husky with Lopsided Smile Adopted By Family Who Drove 2,500 Miles to Meet the Dog

While it took some warming up, the two dogs with a unique likeness became best friends.

“They complete each other,” Richter says. “They were definitely meant to be together. They're like yin and yang.”

Richter and her two dogs moved to Vancouver Island at the end of 2024, and the photographer is excited to continue sharing the positive message Brodie sparked as they embark on this new adventure.

“The beauty is that Brodie has such a zest for life, he does not care what he looks like,” she explains. “It’s okay to be imperfect and look different. You can still thrive.”

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