I've had so many questions about the photographs of Tippy that I decided to write an explanation of our life together and how the photographs came to be. I found Tippy, as a very small pup, tied up and duct-taped in a box that was on a busy street in the town where I live. A jogger saw the box move and so did I. I stopped and opened it and he tumbled out. I took him to my vet and after three days of visits, he said that I was his human. He learned at a very early age that if he did exactly what I told him to do that the world would be his oyster....well, at least the United States. We began a partnership that lasted for 15 years, two months and 12 days. We went to most of the Indian reservations in the southwest and north. Tippy grew up on a ranch with me but he hated cows and horses. When we would pull into an Indian rodeo, he would start warning me that it was likely that a big animal would step on me..or worse. We were at The Rabbit Brush Stampede and there was a tremendous wreck in the arena. Horses and steers and cowboys all tangled up..right in front of me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a movement..Tip had jumped out of the truck, climbed a hogwire fence and was racing to my side...to save me! It was the only time that he broke discipline and left the truck.Well, I guess I should tell you about a coyote that was sitting on the side of the road, in the wildlife refuge, and when the coyote said something rude to Tip, he jumped out through the window (yes, the vehicle was moving) and went chasing Wily through the west firing range of the artillery area of Ft. Sill. When I caught him, I spanked him with my sandal!! He was mortified that I didn't understand how totally rude the coyote had been. He went with me to all the photography workshops that I produced and directed. He's probably one of the most photgraphed dogs of all time.He has a line of notecards that includes Colorado wildflowers, Rancho de Taos Church, Taos Mountain, Montana, Yellowstone, West Texas, TippyAngel,Oh Joy, Oh Rapture, Oklahoma Dirt Road,Shiprock,NM, I-40, Wyoming Ranch horses, etc.... He slept where I slept and ate what I ate. His favourite treat was a "tropical blizzard" from Dairy Queen. He never saw green chiles that he couldn't eat either. He was quite the gourmand.

One night in Yellowstone we were camped out and he woke me up because he was shivering with cold. I took my full length goose down coat and put his front legs in the sleeves and then snapped it all the way up. I pulled the hood up over his head and we went back to sleep.

He was just a delight. When my grown daughters would visit, he would leave my room when I got up and go get in bed with them. He certainly knew who his family was. My mother had several strokes and I would drive back from NM to care for her. Tippy always slept in my bedroom. Always. The first time we went home, after my mom became ill, Tippy laid behind her recliner in the living room. When it was time for Mom to go to bed, he followed us into her room. He watched very carefully and when the covers were pulled up around her, he went behind the bed and laid down. That night I heard her stir and when he heard her, he wagged his tail against the wall. Then she mumbled "Tippy, Tippy"....and they went back to sleep.

I started photographing him with "icons" when he was around 2 years old. He knew to "pose" and then when he heard the shutter, he relaxed..I would say, "one more" and he would sit alert and "on"....sometimes we sorta messed with tourists with him posing and looking handsome. My veterinarian always swore that he was part Irish Wolfhound or Scottish Deerhound and probably some Airedale. To me he was just Wonderful. Tip became ill in the late winter of 2001 and one morning he told me that he needed to leave me. He was the second of the "fab four" to go and join tons of friends at Rainbow Bridge. Needless to say, I miss him more than I can say. I believe that some of his spirt has returned to me in Fayeroe. She does an awful lot of things like he did...