Robin Layton - A Letter to My Dog: Notes to Our Best Friends

The A Letter To My Dog team supports the wonderful work of The Humane Society of the United States, and wishes to express gratitude for all of The HSUSs support with this project. To find out more about The Humane Society of the United States, or to donate, visit www.humanesociety.org .

Associate Editor: Jennifer Duck
Project Coordinator: Kessie Hollister
Photo Assistant to Robin Layton: Sara Gainey
Special thanks from the A Letter to My Dog team to Peggy Fitzsimmons
for her endless love and support.

Produced and originated by PQ Blackwell Limited
116 Symonds Street, Auckland, New Zealand
www.pqblackwell.com

Compilation, design, and layout copyright 2012 PQ Blackwell Limited
Concept copyright 2012 Kimi Culp, Lisa Erspamer, and Robin Layton
Photographs copyright 2012 Robin Layton
Letters copyright Robin Layton/the individual contributors
Book design by Bridget White

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-4521-3377-5

The Library of Congress has cataloged the previous edition as follows:
ISBN: 978-1-4521-1442-2

First published in the United States in 2012 by Chronicle Books LLC.

Chronicle Books LLC
680 2nd Street
San Francisco, California 94107

The journey and experience of photographing this book has been beyond anything I could have anticipated when the project began. The love that I have witnessed between dogs and their people is all at once intangible and yet immeasurably beautiful: I guess that kind of describes what magic is.

The idea of creating a dog book has been in the back of my mind for years. Having been a photojournalist since 1985, Ive photographed a variety of subjects, from a homecoming queen at a local high school to President Obama, from Jennifer Aniston to Oprah Winfrey. Over the years, people have been very complimentary about my photographs, but I have consistently heard them say, I love your photographs, but I love your dog photographs.

Recently, when I mentioned my dream of creating a book of my dog photography while having dinner with friends, one of them, Lisa, came up with the idea of A Letter to My Dog; I thought it was genius!

The result has moved me more than I could have imagined: The people Ive met and the dogs Ive photographed, all welcoming me into their homes with wagging tails (the dogs, too), were pure joy.

For me, the experience is summed up perfectly by these words, from Beth Brown: I know love, I had a dog.

It has been an honor and a privilege to witness the indescribable tenderness between a person and their dog and to endeavor in my images to preserve magical moments that, I hope, reveal to us anew the beautiful and generous souls of our best friends.

Robin Layton

Rory Barish: Nike

Dear Nike,

It is nearing the end, and your days are numbered. It is an honor and tribute that I write this letter to you, Nike, my true soul mate.

From the day that I picked you up at the rescue at age five, I must have known what an amazing soul you were and were to become, because I named you Nike. You have truly lived up to your name... the Goddess of Victory, Strength, and Speed.

You were abused in your previous home before we met but survived in spite of it all. You were mauled by another dog at the age of six, almost bled to death, but survived in spite of it all. You were dropped by a groomer from a high grooming table at the age of nine and suffered a broken back, compressed spine, and blown discs, but you survived in spite of it all. You were so eager to walk and run again after your surgery and you never complained or mourned the loss of your Frisbee days.

Oh, how you flew through the air as you caught every Frisbee that was thrown.

What an athlete you were, Nike.

Last year, at the age of fifteen, you survived gastric torsion and the surgery that followed but dealt with a massive stroke twenty-four hours later. This rendered you paralyzed in your hind legs. Within months of all this, you suffered the cruel onset of degenerative myelopathy and grand mal seizures but somehow managed it all. Many say that you should legally be declared a cat because you have more than nine lives. I agree.

Throughout it all, you never complained, always smiled, gained a love of turkey and pasta and, for the last fourteen months, loved the mobility gained in your new cart. You rode it like the true Goddess of Victory assuming the role of Charioteer as you swiftly rode your cart/chariot down the strand at the beach. You greeted all, as the Goddess greeted all with glory and fame. You bring smiles to the faces of many and you are an inspiration to all that you meet. Three weeks ago, a young man looked at you quizzically and remarked to his friend, Hey man... look at that dog. The friend replied, That is not just any dog, that is Nike... shes famous! I did not even know who they were. People have blogged about you, tweeted about you, put you on their websites, and photographed you. There is even a song about you.

You could not have been more like my own human child if you tried. We both have had reconstructive back surgery, we both have scoliosis, we both are athletes and love pasta and can eat what we want without gaining weight. Despite all our physical challenges, we both are survivors.

In the final moments of our last chapter, darling Nike, we are at the beach. In the last few weeks, you can no longer walk and you are now in a red chariot/wagon. Although tired and weary at almost sixteen (in two months), you still want to eat and drink, watch the waves and the birds, greet every dog, cat, baby, and passerby, and still do not want to give up. You still want to hold your head up high and regal, as you were told your whole life, and have people cheer at you all day long... Just do it, Nike!

You have done it all, my darling one, and I have loved every minute of caring for you and being your mom. My winged Goddess, may your wings allow you to fly and soar throughout the heavens and my heart forever. I love love love you, Nike.

Mommy

Martha Beck: Bjorn

All hail Bjorn, King of Our House! Permit this humble human to sing of your magnificence!

Of nine brothers born in your litter, King Bjorn, you were the biggest. We named you with the Danish word for bear, to honor your thunderous paws, your deep bass growl, your vast and floppy lips. Soon you would outweigh me, King Bjorn, surpassing all golden retrievers in stature!