i spent a significant portion of my childhood trying to convince my parents to get a dog. i didn’t understand until years later that this was always going to be a fruitless endeavor as my brother has severe allergies to anything furry. probably to deflect my desperate campaign, my father, who grew up in minneapolis and was a HUGE vikings fan, told me that if the vikings won the super bowl we could get a puppy. each fall my heart was full of hope and i cheered and supported and rallied behind those guys in purple and gold and each year i was terribly disappointed. they actually went to the super bowl FOUR times (’70, ’74, ’75 and ’77) and LOST each time. those years were definitely the hardest and i am just realizing might be why i really don’t care for purple or yellow. i don’t know what my father would have done if they had actually pulled it off because there was always the issue of my brother. maybe he understood, after rooting for them for decades that it was never going to happen. to date, it STILL hasn’t!
(super bowl IV 1970: the purple people eaters BEFORE the game… that’s why they’re smiling - the chiefs beat them 23-7)
(super bowl VIII 1974 when the dolphins stomped the vikings 24-7 - that dolphin looks like the original heisman)
(super bowl IX 1975 when the steelers won 16-6… all of the vikings in this photo are on the floor!)
(super bowl XI 1977… the raiders are all over this one viking and ultimately smashed them 32-14)
eventually i gave up on the idea of a dog (and pretty much stopped following football - almost all of my sports knowledge ends in the late 80’s.) it wasn’t until about five years ago that i realized that i could get a dog even if the vikings hadn’t won the super bowl. (i DID still ask for my father’s permission though.) of course, getting hank has been revolutionary for us. we cannot imagine our lives without him, particularly during the thick of the pandemic when he served as both entertainment and a beacon of calm. i love hank so much that i became like a canine missionary proselytizing about the benefits of having a puppy. and so, my campaign for my parents to get a dog was reignited, even though i don’t live with them anymore.
(ridiculous CUTE hank when we first brought him home)
both of my parents were steadfast against the idea, even though they LOVED hearing hank stories and sometimes seemed more interested in what was going on with him than with my children (i don’t blame them… hank is hilarious.) and then i noticed a tiny crack in their resolve… one of their neighbors got a puppy who often stopped to play in their front yard and they really enjoyed watching “budino” (he’s named after butterscotch pudding) bounce around in their garden. so this summer when we were in berkeley i went hard with my offense and finally just started looking for a dog that i thought would be a good fit.
(this is the first photo we saw of sweet rosie)
(the first time my parents met rosie… she makes serious eye contact)
(don’t they look like they belong together?)
i must say i found the PERFECT dog for my parents and i am pretty proud of myself. “rosie” is my most successful project ever. she is a fluffy, white, hypo-allergenic, peanut of a dog (she only weighs eight pounds) who looks like a little lamb. she has a tail (hank does NOT which has always concerned my father who would prefer a readable barometer of hank’s happiness) that she wags constantly and i swear to god she SMILES. she is the most JOYFUL little darling girl.
(roșie wagging her tail and DANCING on her hind legs because she is so excited about her dinner)
rosie and my parents have A LOT in common… they have already lived full lives (rosie had FOUR litters and my parents raised me), they are all retired, they all have curly, white hair and they like to nap (especially rosie and my dad.) she has only been with them for two and a half weeks and she has completely stolen their hearts. i get regular reports on all of rosie’s adventures and accomplishments (she grew up in a ranch house so all of the stairs in my parents’ house were a bit daunting at first, but now she prances up and down them like a tiny ballerina.) the other day i popped over there and no one was home, not even rosie. i started calling all of their mobiles and finally got my mom.
“where ARE you guys?” i asked.
“we had to go to the bank.” my mother replied.
“and you brought rosie with you?” i followed.
“WELL… we couldn’t just leave her at home.” my mom countered.
so yes, my parents are now those people that bring their dog to the bank. (and to get there she rides in a special cushioned car seat with a fun cheetah print.) i can’t begin to explain what a 180 this is for my parents. their friends are just astonished.
there ARE some differences between rosie and my parents. she is a “bolognese” and is descended from fancy italian court dogs favored by the nobles. originally from bologna, the love for “bolos” also spread throughout europe. catherine the great reportedly carried hers around in the bosom of her dress. other famous bolo parents include leonardo da vinci, madame de pompadour and empress maria theresa of austria. the venetian painter, titian, painted federico II, the spanish duke of mantua with his bolognese around 1529. de goya depicted dona joaquina candado with her little bolo dog in 1802, as well as contessa de chinchon with hers. more recently, marilyn monroe was gifted one from frank sinatra (who has the same birthday as me and is italian) that she called “maf,” short for mafia. and of course miss barbara streisand famously cloned her beloved bolo.
(titian’s federico and his sweet puppy)
(de goya’s dona joaquina and her bolo moppet)
(de goya’s contessa with her little miss muffet)
(marilyn and maf)
(barbara even featured her beloved bolo on one of her album covers)
my parents come from more humble roots, but rosie does not mind. she respects the american work ethic and certainly put in her time raising multiple litters. we actually got to meet one baby from her final set. she had recently weaned them and had dark circles under her eyes… babies are TIRING! i looked very similar after having my kids.
(here i am after i got theo out and i have some SERIOUS circles under my eyes! also “red freckles” that are all the burst capillaries in my face - i was not used to exerting myself so much - that was before i’d even heard of bar method classes)
(the first time i went out of the house with lu i threw on sunnies to cover up my black eyes!)
(family portrait with rosie and her baby)
(lucy cuddling rosie’s baby)
but now that rosie is free of responsibilities (other than checking where my parents are in the house - she likes it best when they are in the same room!) she is looking fresh as a little white daisy. she also just had her first salon appointment where she had her hair washed, cut and brushed, a mani/pedi and a dental cleaning. she waltzed out of there like the principessa that she is.
(roșie relaxing with theo and hank)
if you are in berkeley, be sure to look for my parents and rosie on one of their afternoon walks… she’ll be prancing along in her bright pink harness and leash or possibly carried on my mother’s hip like a sweetie baby. x0x0x
