Shepherd Pet Agency vs Dogfluence (2026)

With Dogfluence, brands own all creator relationships and campaign data directly. With Shepherd Pet Agency, the agency manages creator relationships on your behalf, which can create dependency and limits data portability if you transition away.

Shepherd Pet Agency operates on a monthly retainer model ($2,500–$8,000/month), which bundles strategy, sourcing, and reporting into a managed service fee. Dogfluence uses a self-serve subscription model starting at $199/month (Scout) or $399/month (Scale), with an optional Personal Pack Leader add-on at $299/month on top of Scale ($698/month total) for brands wanting a more managed experience — still well below typical agency retainer floors.

Dogfluence's Brand Trail (performance-based creator swapping) automatically replaces underperforming creators during a campaign, keeping results on track without manual intervention. Built-in Social Amplification matches brand posts with suitable dog creators who engage and contribute, improving post performance and compounding Instagram account health over time. Shepherd's boutique model relies on human-led processes, which offer personal judgment but no equivalent automated optimization layer.

Shepherd Pet Agency serves both dog and cat brands across the broader pet industry. Dogfluence is exclusively built for dog brands, meaning every platform feature, creator profile, and data point is oriented around dogs. Dog sizing data (neck girth, chest girth, body length) is a concrete example of dog-specific infrastructure that a generalist pet agency does not replicate at the platform level.

Boutique agencies like Shepherd typically require onboarding, strategy alignment, and manual creator outreach before a campaign launches, which can take two to four weeks. Dogfluence's self-serve model allows dog brands to launch their first campaign significantly faster, with the Scale plan offering a 14-day free trial to start immediately.