Ian Rhodester

I can’t tell you how much I miss this guy. I didn’t even realize it myself until last night.

This is Ian. He was my best friend for a short period of time and in a way, he still is.

I remember finding this one lone dog hair on my suit during a TV shoot a few years back. I don’t remember what the show was – I’d been booked as an extra, and it was not unlike any other show I’d been involved with.

I wore dress pants and a business shirt with a tie, because it was an office setting. I was just a guy making copies in the background and when they went to reset the scene, I sat down and experienced a moment that I’ll never forget.

Ian had been gone for about four months. He’d left suddenly one day, when I wasn’t home. Heart problem, the Vet said. Never saw it coming.

I had these suits I wore for doing the “background acting” gig, which is the technically correct term for “extra,” and do you know how hard it is to keep dark suit pants free of dog hair with a Sheltie around?

It’s impossible.

I’d always be finding some reminder of my old friend whenever I went to work, no matter how meticulously I rolled that hair removal thingy over the suit. After four months though, it was pretty clean. The pants had been to the Dry Cleaner a number of times since he passed, so there was no reason for a little gray hair to still be lingering.

But there it was, plain as day. I plucked it off and stared at it, and then the tears came. I had to leave the set because I didn’t want them see me in this state. Being a lowly extra, they didn’t miss me, they just did another take without me and I managed to sneak back in unnoticed after having composed myself.

That’s how much he meant to me.

I don’t easily trust people who say, “I’m not really a dog person.” That’s not to say they’re bad people, I just don’t warm up to them so quickly.

We went to this guy’s house once and he had three little pups he kept out on the back porch. I thought he’d put them out because we were having a meeting and he didn’t want us to be disturbed so I said, “Hey, no need to banish them to the yard.. I love dogs, let ‘em in!” But it turned out they weren’t allowed in, they’d “ruin the furniture.”

Geez man, it’s just furniture.

I’ve talked before of our blogging pals, Jim and Rene, and how they drop in on us whenever they come blowing through. They travel in a rig, and they used to travel with a swell furry fellow named Jerry, but Jerry has passed from us too. He and Ian are running around up there somewhere, leaving little hairs on clouds.

I guarantee Ian’s leaving more hair than Jerry.

PBS produced a documentary called “Why we love cats and dogs,” which is about the bond between people and their animals. Jim, Rene and Jerry are prominently featured in two segments of the hour long program and it’s available to stream for free at the PBS website.

Jim, Rene and Jerry on the beach

The show looks at how we interact with cats and dogs, and explores the odd psychological glue that binds us with our furry kids, and what makes them so special to us.

It got me to thinking of Ian and his predecessors.. Rufus, Bear, Goofus, Belle and Dopey. Oh, and there was Pancho too.. he was a little long-haired Mexican Chihuahua.

Mean little cuss, but I loved him anyway.

It’s a fascinating bond. There’s a scene where Jim has taken a mouth full of water from a drinking fountain and is spitting it upward so Jerry can lap at it. Jim and I are friends, but I don’t think I’d lap at his stream.

But dogs don’t care about silly things like convention or how things look to people.

We’ve had cats too. We currently have two cats and we’ve had past cats. We have no dogs at the moment. Yes, I sound like a person who works at a small pet store.

This is Tazzy..

Tazzy Kitty

Coffeesister, aka my wife Dorian, swears that this little guy was a fluffy angel sent from heaven to guide her through deep despair. I think she’s right.

He left us too and, just like Ian, it was way sooner than it should have been. He was a kind-hearted, warm and considerate little soul in a tiny package of fur.

Another similarity to Ian is that he left a lot of that fur behind and, in a bit of similarity to me, Dorian will spontaneously burst into tears should she finds a tiny orange hair stuck to a pillow.

They have some kind of brilliant magic, these fur-people, and they use it to make us better. They manufacture memories and leave us with life lessons. Jerry helped Jim and Rene grow spiritually, and Ian helped me grow up.

Tazzy was a comfort and companion to Dorian when she most needed it. His timing was impeccable.

I think you’ll like the PBS show about cats and dogs. It’s nothing deep or scientific, it just kind of looks at the relationship between us and them and says, “Huh, how about that!”

“Why we love cats and dogs” at PBS.ORG

Interview with Rene about Jerry

Tripawds – Jim and Rene’s website dedicated to canine cancer victims.

Live.Work.Dream – Jim and Rene’s blog about life on the road.

Dorian, Dave, Jim, Rene and Jerry in Palm Springs

Here’s how much..

Not seeing the video? click here

in loving memory of Ian and Rufus
Visit petfinder.com to find a shelter in your
area and rescue your future best friend.

We’re having visitors come by today. This is unusual even though we live in Palm Springs, but these particular visitors live and travel in a big trailer that they pull along behind a truck. They come through every now and then because we’re kind of on the way if someone’s going back east through Arizona from California.

The last time Jim and Rene from LiveWorkDream dropped by, they had this wonderful doggie named Jerry. He was wonderful partly because he just was, and partly because he’d lived a lot longer than he should have because of cancer. He’d even surrendered a leg to it, but that didn’t get him down.. “Hopalong Jerry” was as active and life-loving as any other German Shepherd with swell “pawrents” who got to travel all over the place in a big trailer. He started up a blog about it that you can see here and he posted a lot for a dog, let alone one who had to type with only one paw up front.

A few months ago Jerry went to heaven, so today’s get-together will be bittersweet. I’m sure that Jim and Rene will reminisce about some cool stuff and have more than a few heartfelt reflections on Jerry’s contribution to their lives.

We’ll miss ol’ Jer, but it’s going to be fun having guests who’ve offered to make us dinner and give us beer. To give you an idea of just how drop-dead awesome and maybe a “tad” full of crap they are, check out this unsolicited recommendation Rene posted for me on my LinkedIn profile when she heard I was looking for writing jobs..

“For almost two years we’ve come to know Dave through his blog, and found his writing to be some of the most truthful, heartfelt, funny and intriguing writing in the blogosphere. He tells stories like nobody else that we follow. When we had the opportunity to finally meet him in person, it was clear that the person behind the writing is just as interesting, witty and introspective. We don’t know of a single soul out there on the web who measures up to his work, and we happily anticipate his rise to fame in no time.” 

Okay, so no I did not pay her and no I did not ask for that and yes she just did it all by herself and I’m going to cry now.

As of this posting, they’re in town somewhere stocking up on supplies for their rig and they’ll be calling when they’re in the neighborhood. I’m so excited I have to play something from ABBA (how do you make the second B go backward?) because I feel like DANCIN’.. so maybe the BeeGees too, while I’m at it?