Evan Cooper
@evcoop Instagram
Out of a job, about 2,000 followers, a German shepherd afraid of waves: 12.5M views in week three and 1.1M followers, while the median fell from 806K to 340K
Head case. Evan Cooper, a Tennessee man living in Charleston, lost his full-time job in 2024 and went all in on content with about 2,000 Instagram followers, by Instagram’s own creator page (his course page says 8,000). He had spent about nine months posting on other platforms first. His Instagram, a personal account since 2016, posted its first Reel on April 3, 2024; on April 20 his dog Vader meeting the waves reached 12.5M. Foster puppies on the beach later reached 31.7M and 26M. He had nearly 800K followers by March 2025 and passed 1M within two years, according to an interview post and Instagram’s creators account. No production team is mentioned; a management company handles brands. The median per Reel has fallen every year since.
- Report
- v1
- Data as of
- 2026-11-09
- Sample
- 482 videos

At a glance
- What it is
- A Tennessee guy, his German shepherd and foster puppies trying small, slightly scary things.
- Who watches
- A broad English-speaking audience; likes at 9.4% of views.
- How it earns
- Brand deals through a management company, a $99 course.
- How it broke out
- Moved tested videos to Instagram after losing his job; his dog meeting the waves reached 12.5M in week three.
Followers Fact
1.13M
About 2,000 when he started (Instagram’s page)
Median per Reel, 2024 → 2026 Fact
806K → 340K
152 Reels in 2024, 154 in 2026
Dog-and-beach Reels Derived
2.86M
Median of 14; three of his seven Reels over 10M
Labelled brand posts Fact
26
15 of them in 2025
Summary
The play
One man, one dog and one small fear at a time: the first beach, the first hot yoga class, the third try at Pilates. Say the context in the first two seconds and let the dog or the fear do the rest.
Can you copy it? Our read
A head account whose growth came early: nine months of practice on other platforms, then a man-and-dog format that hit on Instagram within three weeks. Followers kept climbing past 1.1M while the median per Reel fell by more than half. Copy the hook discipline (context in two seconds, one small fear), and watch your median, not just your followers.
- What it takes
- Comfort on camera, a dog or another co-star, and time to post most days.
- Startup cost
- A phone. Fostering dogs, if you copy that part, costs time and a home.
- Time to a verdict
- He reports nine months before anything worked; on Instagram the first hit came in three weeks because the format was already tested.
- Window
- Still open but aging: his own median halved in two years.
Key findings
His two early hits came with him
Instagram’s page quotes him: only two videos worked in his first nine months, going to the movies alone and his first hot yoga class. Those are his first two Instagram Reels (2.0M and 3.3M), posted April 3 and 5, 2024. See play 2.1 (subscribers)
A dog, the ocean and a small fear
14 Reels with waves or the beach have a 2.86M median, about five times his overall 587K, and three of them passed 10M. See play 2.2 (subscribers)
Followers up, median down
The median per Reel was 806K in 2024, 542K in 2025 and 340K in 2026, while followers passed 1M. See play 3.1 (subscribers)
What this channel is
- Platform
- Instagram Reels
- Format
- Dog and “first time” vlogs
- On camera
- Himself, his dog Vader, foster dogs
- Team
- No crew mentioned; a management company for brands
- First Reel
- 2024-04-03 (account opened 2016)
- Length
- Median 78 seconds
Every number is tagged
- Fact straight from public data
- Derived calculated from facts
- Estimate from published pay ranges
- Self-reported what the creator says
- Our read our judgement
01How it happened
How the follower count grew
- Instagram 1.13M
- Fact
- Self-reported
Instagram followers. The first point is his own account on Instagram’s creator page (about 2,000; his course page says 8,000). March 2025 comes from an interview post (“nearly 800k”) and January 2026 from Instagram’s own creators account (“over one million … in under two years”); both are reports. Only the last point is measured. We found no dates for 10K or 100K.
- under 1×
- 1–3×
- 3–10×
- 10× and up
Each bar is one video in the order posted. Gaps are breaks in posting.
| Phase | Dates | Reels | Format | Median views |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 2016 – early 2024 | – | A personal Instagram with scattered photos. After losing his job he posted on other platforms first for about nine months (Instagram’s creator page) | – |
| 1 | Apr 3 – 19, 2024 | 9 | First Reels on Instagram: sneaking candy into the movies alone (2.0M), his first hot yoga class (3.3M), his German shepherd Vader; about 2,000 followers when he started (Instagram’s page) | 1.75M |
| 2 | Apr 20 – Aug 2024 | 95 | Vader meets the waves, 12.5M; a Reel most days of dogs, small challenges and middle-school jokes; first labelled partnership in May | 779K |
| 3 | Sep 2024 – Jun 2025 | 160 | Foster puppies at the beach: 31.7M in November, 26M in March; nearly 800K followers by March 2025 (interview post); a road trip | 613K |
| 4 | Jul 2025 – Nov 9, 2026 | 218 | Re-posts of old hits, brand campaigns, Reels pointing to his YouTube travel videos; over 1M by January 2026 (Instagram’s creators account) | 355K |
Hottest and coldest
Top 5 by views
- If I was 7 pounds, I would also be scared of waves2024-11-0831.7M
- Shaggy isn’t the biggest fan of waves but he’ll get there2025-03-0426M
- Day 1/6 of posting my favorite videos from the past year since I’m at camp with my middle schoolers2025-07-1018.2M
- Before the dog experts come after me, we were only there for 10 minutes cause my man was terrified2024-05-0913.1M
- I completely underestimated how scary waves are so a life vest wasn’t necessary anyways hahah2024-04-2012.5M
Bottom 5 by views
- You can make fun of my mug it’s okay2026-04-24446
- Made a new friend today 🤠2026-04-15502
- Mission accomplished 🤠2026-04-15834
- The beach stood no chance this time2026-04-071.34K
- May have my hands full w Bob2026-04-223.65K
The five most-viewed are all dogs on the beach or reruns of them: foster puppy Turkey’s first beach (31.7M, Nov 2024), Shaggy and the waves (26.0M, Mar 2025), a “favorite videos from the past year” rerun while he was at camp (18.2M, Jul 2025), a short trip that “the dog experts” would criticise (13.1M, May 2024) and Vader underestimating the waves (12.5M, Apr 2024). The coldest are a cluster from April 2026, several posted twice on the same day: a mug (446), a new friend (502), “Mission accomplished” (834), a beach rerun (1.3K) and “May have my hands full w Bob” (3.7K). Our read
Reading the numbers
Self-reported
2,000 or 8,000
followers when he started
Instagram’s page against his own course page.
Fact
17 days
from his first Reel to 12.5M
Vader and the waves, April 20, 2024.
Derived
9.4%
likes per view
Across all 482 Reels, 533M views.
In the creator’s words Self-reported
For the first 9 months, I really only had two videos perform well.