Celebrating 15 Years of Lowcountry Dog

15 Celebrating years. Fifteen years & 93 issues later...

We look back on the history of Lowcountry Dog Magazine from brainstorming at James Island County Dog Park in 2005 by Renee Johnson and Leah England to present day, where Lowcountry Dog is read globally as a digital publication and print publication while remaining the area’s go-to source for all things dog in the Charleston area and beyond.

RENEE JOHNSON Founder of Lowcountry Dog Magazine, 2005

The idea for a local magazine about dogs popped into my head one day while working as a freelance reporter and editor for a Charleston business publication. The thought hit me while I was compiling some really dry facts and figures about the Lowcountry economy: Why not write about a subject I truly loved? Dogs!

The fit was perfect: I enjoyed writing and editing, interviewing people, sharing news and ideas, and most of all, I loved dogs. I’d been a rescue foster mom for ages, worked as a vet technician, and had a degree in animal nutrition from Clemson University.

So I teamed up with my very creative friend Leah England and brought Lowcountry Dog to life. The magazine’s title was easy to come up with, but the logo and layout were harder. Thanks to the immensely talented designer Angie Hranowski, we soon had a look and feel for the magazine, and the equally talented photographer Julia Lynn brought everything to beautiful visual life.

In fact, the creative side of Lowcountry Dog was a wonderful collaboration. Ideas for articles, features, and news came easily, and we were enthusiastically received by everyone we approached, whether for interviews, photo shoots, or requesting that they write a guest column. Everybody was happy to talk about dogs.

Our readers were especially eager to share their dog stories and photos with us, which was always so gratifying. Those businesses where we distributed copies of the magazine, from restaurants to vet offices to retail stores, welcomed us, and many of them became advertisers. The best part of producing the magazine was to see the cover design and Julia’s photographs come to life each month and then pick up the newly printed copies at the warehouse in North Charleston.

Photo by Southern Vintage Photography

LEAH ENGLAND, Publisher 2005 to 2015:

I met Renee Johnson through a joint project at a local publishing company. We bonded because we both had Great Danes and started meeting up at the dog park. We were at the James Island dog park when Renee shared her idea about starting a dog magazine to serve the Charleston area. I thought it was a brilliant idea and jumped in to help. Julia Lynn signed on as photographer and recommended her friend Angie Hranowsky to create the magazine’s logo and signature aesthetic. The dream team met up to mastermind the magazine at Renee’s backyard tiki hut and after a few very fun sessions, we had a mock up and planned an editorial calendar I could use to obtain our first core advertisers. We were incredibly grateful for the support of those first advertisers because they allowed us to move into production very quickly.

The magazine gained ground in readership and popularity that first year; but my husband’s job moved us to Florida. Renee’s priorities had also shifted and we considered stopping the publication all together, but instead I decided to purchase Renee’s shares and continue producing the magazine remotely from Florida. I would pack up my Great Dane, Poet and drive seven hours to direct the photo shoots, meet with advertisers, rescues and writers, and attend as many pet friendly events as I could during my brief stay. I’d return to Florida and return to Charleston a few weeks later, this time delivering each and every magazine to our distribution points myself with Poet in the backseat as inventory manager. I was willing to go to great lengths to keep the magazine going because I wholeheartedly believed in it, and always felt I’d get back to the Lowcountry.

We moved to North Carolina and I continued with my travels to Charleston, but now with my newborn son in tow. The magazine really hit its creative stride, producing favorite issues like “Dances with Dogs” (ballerinas leaping with dogs), “Bone Appetit” (celebrity chefs and their dogs), Smart Cookie (Chaser, the world’s smartest dog) “Prison Pups” (the dog training program at the Navy brig) and the extremely popular issue, “Real Men Love Dogs” (that one really flew off the shelves!). I was extremely proud of our annual Animal Advocate Award and the annual auctioning of one of our covers as a fundraiser for local rescues. And of course, the annual Model Contest at Pet Fest was always a blast.

Julia Lynn, Leah England & Angie Hranowsky

Photo by Southern Vintage Photography

In 2015 and now living in Bluffton, SC, pregnant with my second child and with a busy career in home building, it was time for LCDM to change hands once again. I was thrilled Brian Foster, a long time animal rescue activist and parttime LCDM ad sales rep decided to purchase the magazine because it was very important to me to leave the publication in the best hands. I’ve enjoyed watching the magazine deepen its mission under Brian’s watch, developing phenomenal fundraising events like Woofstock, Eat Drink Rescue and May the Dogs Be With You. It feels like things have come full circle because now my family uses Lowcountry Dog as a resource to find dog friendly places and things to do when our family visits Charleston with our Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Pilot. As pleasing as it is to see the magazine doing so well, what I’m most grateful for are the wonderful friendships I made along the way. If you are enjoying the publication today, it is because I had the extreme honor to work with the following people who helped bring the idea to life:

Renee Johnson, Founder

Julia Lynn, founding Photographer

Angie Hranowsky, founding Graphic Designer

Laura Olsen, Staff Photographer

Brian Foster, Advertising Sales

Ashley Smith, Staff Photographer

Leigh Webber, Contributing Photographer

Oliva Rae James, Contributing Photographer

Kristen Scott, Contributing Photographer

Gillian Nicol, Executive Assistant

Stratton Lawrence, Distribution

Andy Lassiter, Distribution

From L to R: Julia Lynn, Leah England and Angie Hranowsky

Photo by Southern Vintage Photography

BRIAN FOSTER, Publisher 2015 to Present

I had seen Lowcountry Dog Magazine around town but it wasn’t until 2009 when I picked up a copy at Pet Helpers that things began to happen. Laura Olsen had begun shooting for the magazine shortly after and when I helped with the 2011 Pet Fest Model Contest, Leah and i began to discuss the business side of the magazine over dinner and soon after I was the Sales Rep for LCDM. Sales and Research was my day job and magazine ad sales just seemed natural to me. With Leah living out of the area, Laura and I had become the local people for the magazine, representing the magazine at local events like Dogtoberfest and the Charleston Dog Show. We had always said that if Leah decides to sell, we would buy the magazine and keep it going. That day came in 2015, when Lowcountry Dog was publishing its last issue in February. Laura was about to move to Texas, so I decided to carry on the dream and bought the magazine and relaunched it as a digital plublication on September 25 of 2015.

The decision to switch to digital only did not come easy. People had become used to picking up free copies around town and I knew it would be missed. Thinking of the envirnoment and my passion for dogs, help steer the digital publication even further as we grew the brand.

At first, it was just me doing everything from layout, selling ads, & growing our social media to include Instagram. I met Jackie and Celess of Southern VIntage Photography at an event in 2015 and they have been shooting for us ever since. In 2016, I met Alicia Williams of Eunoia Rescue and she began helping me with writing an editorial column each issue as well as helping me with the rescue side of things. Laura Olsen was also still around to help me bounce ideas off of and I also enlisted her to re design our website that we re launched in October of 2016. That site has been nominated for best site every year since. We started having events to help rescues, beginning with Eat, Drink & Rescue in January of 2016 and now have 6 popular events every year including Woofstock: A Lowcountry Dog Music Festival which was nominated for Best Festival and won for Best Fundarising Event in the 2020 Best Of Charleston Awards.

In 2017, we hit our stride and hit over 1 million readers of the 6x per year digital magazine. We started doing Rescue Spotlights with companion videos produced by Palmetto Coast Media, sponsored by Pet Supplies Plus. We produced 12 videos and spotlights and even won Best Locally Produced Video for our spotlight on Pet Helpers.

In 2019, we hit another milestone by raising $30,000 for local rescues and shelters from our events and calendar sales. Our yearly print calendar is in its 3rd year and become a popular fundraiser for local rescues and hundreds of dogs compete each year to be a calendar model. We have built an amazing staff of writers, photographers, editors and social media specialists to keep us on top of our game. We now reach over 100,000 per week across all platforms.

When looking at 2020 and being our 15th anniversary, we decided to celebrate by bringing back print. We now produce high quality print copies you can find around town and we are now offering up a new program, The Lowcountry Dog Society, to be more in touch with our readers. ■

Photo by In Between the Blinks

LAURA OLSEN, Staff Photographer 2010 to 2015, Design Consultant 2015 to Present

I remember nervously clicking send on the email to Leah England on Tuesday in February way back in 2010. I was so nervous. I’d been a photographer for just a couple of years, but did I have the chops to work for a magazine? Little did I know that one day I would really feel like one of the pack.

Turns out Leah thought I did. What a joy it was to meet people all over the Lowcountry with a love for dogs. I photographed thousands of dogs (if you count all the Pet Fest model contestants) and had a blast. Life took me away from the Lowcountry but I’m glad to still be a part of the pack all these years later, working on the Lowcountry Dog website remodel coming soon.