Anne-Davnes Elser

~ : D O G S : ~

Many of you know that I am crazy sick over my dog, Bjorn. One thing you may not yet know about was his time in the service. A devoted soldier, civil servant and natural Bjorn leader, his portrait was done here in honor of the fine example he's set for dogs all across our great nation. This portrait is nothing less than awe inspiring.

Shown here to the right is a portrait of Bjorn's great, great, great, great, great, great, great Uncle Sven when he was a soldier. It's amazing how much Bjorn takes after Uncle Sven. The resemblance is uncanny. You could say that this noble dog trait runs in the family. I mean, just LOOK at him! Our breeder has done a fine job of documenting his royal lineage.

Bjorn's cousin Ruthie, my Mother's rat terrier, also deserves much praise. She is shown here in a portrait that was fashioned to look a great deal like the famous portrait of Catherine Parr, one of King Henry's many wives. Just LOOK at how STILL she is! You don't WANT to know how many treats it took to accomplish this stunningly graceful painting. At first glance, it looks like Ruthie's just folded her hands together. What you can't see, however, are the doggie treats she's storing in her right hand. We gave her handfuls after handfuls. After this portrait, Ruthie went to Curves (for dogs, of course) where her favorite machine is the treadmill (when there's a tiny pile of crunchy miniature pretzels waiting at the end of the machine).

I digress.....

But I believe Ruthie's finest portrait is here. Now you may think that you've seen this painting before as Queen Elizabeth's ermine portrait. You have. But that painting was created AFTER this one you see here of Ruthie's great, great, great, greatest of great Aunt Charlotte, who was the Queen's hairdresser at the time. Their bond was so strong, they'd sit together for many portraits, often switching places just to keep everyone guessing. This illustrates yet another uncanny resemblance, don't you think? At the time, Elizabeth and Charlotte were inseparable. It's unfortunate that we know so very little about their relationship. One might even call it scandalous that a Queen and a Royal dog would have such tight bonds. As Ruthie today often says, "Never come between a queen and her dog."

Lastly we come to my father's dog Alice Fae.Dalmations were bred by royals, working their spots off for their owners. Today, there are more dalmations kept as companion dogs alone. My father is completely in love with his Alice Fae. Did you know that he bought his last car (a red something) knowing how good she'd look inside of it? He did the same thing with a chocolate lab named Arthur, who looked great in a black nissan truck. Anyway - here's a fine picture of Alice in red, her best color.

It seems we have so much to learn from our dogs. Being a devoted "cat person", I never understood the bond between man and his dog until we got one for ourselves. Now that we do, I'm stunned and well, a little embarrassed, by my infatuation with Bjorn. There is still a strong and loving connection between me and my cats, Gunther and Olaf (which is an entirely different blog) and I am devoted to them. But the love I feel for Bjorn can only be described this way: "My dog is SOOO cute, just looking at him makes the back of my throat tickle, like when you've had too much cake icing."