In 1989 a friend introduced me to a litter of puppies, Golden Retriever puppies. I chose one of the males to become my dog and named him Rugby. I remember the day I picked him up. He and I drove down to San Clemente where we spent the night at a friend’s house. I got my first lesson in beach etiquette the very next day when Rugby decided to “do his business” on the sand. Some girls said, “Are you going to clean that up?” This was just the beginning of a 15 ½ year adventure I would take with Rugby.
Rugs, as I sometimes called him, went everywhere with me. I trained him with help from Mathew Margolis Dog Trainer. During the training I was using hand signals along with the commands. Rugs learned quickly. Late in his life he could not hear a thing so those hand signals came in pretty handy. We traveled all over California and beyond together.
This photo of Rugby is one of my personal favorites. Rugs was even featured in a few advertisements I shot for clients. A photographer who shared my studio made photos of rock bands in the early 90’s. Rugby would somehow get into some of the photographs and eventually HitParader magazine did a feature article on Rugby and how he got to hang out with all these “Rockers”. During my time in the Groundling’s school I wrote a sketch called Rugby. I played the dog, Rugby. My interpretation was a bit more unruly than the namesake. But that was for the laughs.
Rugby’s greatest gift to me was his ability to be my ambassador. I met a woman in 1993, who had 2 teenage girls. When I walked into her house on one of our first dates with Rugby I think I won the hearts of her daughters. When we married I joined a family with 2 other dogs and a cat.
For the past few years I have been working with the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. I happily photograph portraits of the dogs and handlers so NDSDF can use them in their fundraising efforts. A while back, NDSDF asked if I would like to submit a name for a potential Search dog. I suggested Rugby, and now there is a new search dog named Rugby who will be helping in the search for survivors of disasters. The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation is a wonderful organization and they do great work. I encourage all to do whatever you can for this effort.
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| Rugby; 3/21/89 -10/15/04 |
His ambassadorship continues.
To see more of my work visit www.eliotcrowley.com
