AnimAlPeoPle

And their people animals

WE CALL THEM PETS — those creatures who cohabitate and bond with humans. They tend to love their person, even one who is crotchety or crazy. Dogs don’t judge—they evidently love doctors and pastors, evil dictators and lunatics the same. Each summer, in anticipation of the September issue, we ask readers to tell us about their pets. Then editors are deluged with emails and letters. The photos are striking and funny. The stories, heartwarming. Your love of your pets is evident and something to which animal people in every cul- ture and community can relate. While pets are no substitute for human relationships, they do offer a sort of unparalleled, unshakable and near-mystic camaraderie. Writer-naturalist Henry Beston explained it eloquently when he wrote, “They are more finished and complete [than us], gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other Nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time.”

ON THESE PAGES

You will find a cross-section of the pets that populate our neighborhood. To see submitted photos and anecdotes not featured here, watch the Advocate’s Pet Pause section, which appears near the front of the magazine most months and features our neighborhood’s most photogenic pets.

EMMY aka #pupperfluff

If you think poodles seem hyperactive, you’ve never met Emmy the miniature poodle. She’s super chill, says her human mom, Courtney King. However, being “super chill” doesn’t mean she isn’t high maintenance — because she is. “She’s really smart,” King says. “She can kind of get me to do whatever she wants me to do.” And what Emmy wants is to sunbathe on the porch on Saturday afternoon, hang out with her doggy friends at The Swiss Avenue Dog Park, and sniff around White Rock Local Market for dropped crumbs. She’s also a bit of an attention-seeker on Instagram, where she has her own pen name and hashtag: #pupperfluff. When she’s not haunting dog-friendly locations in East Dallas, she also enjoys road-tripping with King. Oh, and popcorn. She loves popcorn.