Meet the Hilarious Kid President and His First Dog, Annie the Chihuahua

Spend a few minutes on YouTube and one thing becomes immediately clear: Dogs, kids, and the Internet make for some pretty adorable combinations. One great example? The recent video, “A Boy and His Pup // Kid President & The First Dog,” from the creative geniuses at SoulPancake. In it, preteen Robby Novak (otherwise known as Kid President) and Brad Montague (the guy behind the camera who writes and edits the laugh-out-loud funny web show) share Kid President’s pet hero: a long-haired Chihuahua mix named Annie.

You’ll have to watch the video to see for yourself just how much fun Robby and Annie — a rescue thought to be around 4 years old — can have in their own little Oval Office. In the meantime, we caught up with Robby and Brad to find out more about the series, Annie, and the Prez himself.

Brad Montague and Robby Novak, aka Kid President. (Photo by Kristi Montague)

Dogster: What was the inspiration for launching Kid President?

Robby: My brother-in-law Brad and I love to hang out and make videos. He has been making videos for a long time and decided that we should work together to make something that would encourage other grown-ups and kids to unite and create awesome stuff! He is the guy who writes the scripts, and I’m the guy with the dance moves. That is why we are the perfect team!

Brad, how exactly did you come up with the idea for the video series?

Brad: My favorite person to work with has always been my little brother-in-law Robby. We’ve always had fun just trying to make the other person laugh as hard as possible. I got an idea to put something ridiculously positive on the Internet during the election in the summer of 2011. Naturally, I approached Robby. My wife and I built a little playful, handmade Oval Office. I wrote out a little script, but then found it was more fun if we just played around.

Robby Novak, aka Kid President, and Annie, aka First Dog. (Photo by Kristi Montague)

Did Annie cooperate during the “pet hero” video, or did she just want to have fun and be a dog?

Brad: It’s a common thing to say, “Don’t work with children or animals.” Yet, somehow, those are my favorite to work with! Children and animals are always honest! They don’t know how to fake it. We had a blast creating this video because it meant that Robby and I got to play with the wonderful Annie. At first, she was wildly excited about all the attention. Then she began to just want to cuddle. Nonstop. She wanted to do nothing but sit in our laps and lick Robby’s face, which made for some great clips that made it into the video. Dogs are great that way. They love to play and they love attention, but when it’s all said and done, they really just want to give you love.

What’s Annie like?

Robby: She’s usually pretty silly and willing to play with me. You’d never know it by looking at her, but she has a secret talent of breakdancing, we do it all the time. (Just kidding.)

As Kid President you’ve been to the White House and the United Nations, and you also met Beyoncé. In your opinion, what’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done?

Robby: Kissing Beyoncé and meeting President Obama are pretty far up there, but one time I went surfing, and that was really cool!

Robby Novak, aka Kid President, and Annie, aka First Dog. (Photo by Kristi Montague)

You’re only 12 years old and must be very busy with being Kid President, attending school, and dancing so much. Do you take help care of Annie when you are home?

Robby: Yep! That was part of the deal of me getting a dog!

What’s it like having osteogenesis imperfecta? We hear you’ve had more than 70 broken bones! Does Annie help you recover if you injure yourself?

Robby: OI is just one part of my life. Whenever I’m sick or in bed, Annie stays by my side, and her just being there makes me feel better. Her breath does sometimes smell with the doggie kisses though! Annie has taught me that you don’t have to be big to love big. She’s the tiniest member of our family, and she probably loves the most out of all of us!

You’ve also been by her side when she’s sick, right?

Robby: She doesn’t get sick unless she eats people food, so I try to be a good friend and companion by not feeding her people food. She returns the favor by not giving me dog food. It’s a pretty good deal!

Why is Annie your pet hero? And if Annie could talk, do you think she’d call you her hero?

Robby: Annie is my pet hero because she’s a friend no matter what’s going on in life. We’re definitely each other’s heroes. I even call her my bae.

Brad Montague and his cat, Shirley. (Photo by Kristi Montague)

Brad, do you have any pets?

Brad: I live just down the road from Robby and Annie with my wife (Robby’s sister, Kristi) and two kids. We have a wonderful little cat named Shirley. She loves to entertain people who walk by our house by rolling around and doing tricks. She loves to be rubbed behind the ears. She also loves to get her picture taken. Several of the Kid President videos were filmed in our home, and in each one, in between takes, I’m trying to move Shirley out of the shoot.

See more Kid President videos on the Soul Pancake YouTube channel.

Read more interviews on Dogster:

• We Catch Up With Annie Blumenfeld, a Teen Advocate for Animal Health
• Meet David Rosenfelt: Best-Selling Author and Dog Rescuer
• We Chat With Ana Poe, Founder of Paco Collars

About the author: Whitney C. Harris is a New York-based freelance writer for websites including StrollerTraffic, Birchbox, and WhattoExpect.com. A former book and magazine editor, she enjoys running (with Finley), watching movies (also with Finley), and cooking meatless meals (usually with Finley watching close by).

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