To the Ends of the Earth

I should have known one of my dogs would appear between the covers of a book before I did.

My ex -- the man with whom I share custody of the dogs we adopted five years ago, P. and C. -- surprised me today with a copy of The Dogs' Book of Romance by Kate Ledger and Lisa Sachs. There on page 5 (as well as on the back cover) is a lovely portrait of C., our beagle, for all the world to see. The snapshot here is not that picture. The photo in the book, in which he's looking wistfully into the camera, is much, much better. It's beautiful, in fact. Just like him.

I don't know if my ex is friends with the photographer, Lisa Sachs, or if she simply sent out a call for cute dogs and he answered it. He did tell me in his note that she took pictures of both dogs together but for whatever reason went only with C. (I'll post a picture of P., our crazy but sweet terrier mutt, another time.)

The small gifty book is from Andrews McMeel -- publisher of the Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes books, among many others. It uses pictures of dogs, mostly in pairs, to illustrate principles of a successful relationship. (Isn't it ironic . . . dontcha think?) -- things like "Give from your soul" and "Wake one another to catch the sunrise." Opposite C.'s picture, in which he's posed with two antique globes, it says: "Go to the ends of the earth for each other."

I wish I could show the actual portrait. This is kind of like talking up a professional portrait of, oh, Colin Farrell and then showing a snapshot of him sleeping. Well, maybe not exactly like that.