I just wanted to highlight this beautiful artwork that my good friend, Chis a.k.a. @whosthewhatnow created for me.
This drawing was inspired by this post about my dad and his animal magnetism.
If you don't recall, I said...
"I’ve always said I don’t believe in heaven but I do believe in dog heaven.
It is my hope FrogDad gets special permission to go there and hang with Otis, MacGyver, Reggie, and Buttons."
I also mentioned this in my eulogy...
I said that we had pet newts as children. However, when I went to look up pet newts, none of them looked like what we had. In fact, I couldn't find any lizards that looked like what we had. Perhaps they were some kind of lizard that was a popular pet in the 80s but fell out of favor with pet stores.
In any case, the mystery lizards are sneaking into Doggie Heaven.
And, of course, there is my dad's famous John Deere riding mower that he used to take Otis on countless walks.
And Chris included all of the beloved doggos of my childhood.
My first was a Welsh Corgi named Buttons.
She would walk me more than I walked her...
Then we adopted a Cairn Terrier named Reggie.
Reggie was found at an illegal breeding facility and rescued. He was kept in a cage nearly all of his life and it pained him to walk on hard surfaces for several months until his paws healed. We suspect he was abused by a large male, because he was terrified of my dad when we brought him home. He would run under the bed anytime my dad entered the room. This was probably the ultimate test of my dad's dog whispering powers. He slowly and patiently worked with Reggie, devising all kinds of creative trust exercises. He would lay on the floor with his belly exposed and start crying and acting sad. Trying to show Reggie he was harmless and pathetic and nothing to fear. And every time Reggie got close, my dad would bribe him with cheese.
And just like every other dog we've had, my dad won Reggie over and they became best friends. They were constant cuddle buddies.
No other large male could ever get close to Reggie. My dad ended up being the only one he would ever trust.
We felt Reggie could use a companion to help cure his trauma and depression and maybe help him socialize a little better.
My first ever experience with a puppy. He was a West Highland White Terrier--commonly referred to as a "Westie."
We wanted a name that paid respect to his Scottish heritage and we loved this popular show on the boob tube in which a man fixed things with chewing gum and a paperclip.
So I suggested we name him after that favorite TV hero...
MacGyver was a bit like Otis 1.0. He was a tiny ball of energy. He loved to play. He was mischievous, but always cute about it, so he rarely got in trouble. Though he was not nearly as smart as Otis. If dogs could take IQ tests, Otis would have tested as a genius. I am embarrassed to admit how often I was outwitted by a hairy loaf with legs.
But MacGyver was just a normie. Not dumb. Not a genius.
Reggie didn't know what to do with a puppy at first. But once Mac grew up a little and calmed down a lot, they did end up being proper pupper pals.
Reggie mostly just sat at a distance as MacGyver did dumb things. Mac would get into trouble and when we caught him, Reggie would just stare at us like, "I was an impartial observer. I had no part in these shenanigans."
And last, but certainly not least... I think you all remember this troublemaker.
My dad was all cuddles and play time.
But my mom and Otis had a very special relationship as well. Otis would "help" my mom with her chores. They'd go from room to room and my mom would do her cleaning and dusting and vacuuming. And Otis would disrupt all of it--to her delight. She liked to talk to him like he was an adult human. She swore he could understand her. They'd just gab and clean.
So, thank you to Chris for always creating such beautiful things for me.
If you need any artwork, I highly recommend hiring him. He even does watercolor paintings.