Several years ago I did an online Q & A about Animals and Authors. That was before my previous dog, Oscar, died of bone cancer way before I was ready to say goodbye. I hope you like this journey back in time to when Oscar was my best dog and always ready to support my writing efforts. 🙂
Quid Pro Quills Interviewer – Writing – they say – is a solitary occupation. But is it? Really? Let’s visit with Ann Gabhart and ask her about her constant companion.
Q: Introduce us to the dog you’re sharing with us today.
AHG: My current dog friend is Oscar, a black Labrador with some chow mixed in. The chow shows in his black splotched tongue and his square head. He has the Labrador temperament except he isn’t a water dog. Most Labs love water, but not Oscar. He will wade into the water and even sit down a while when he’s hot, but forget the swimming. However, he doesn’t mind the snow and that’s when you can get the best pictures of him.
We got Oscar about seven years ago. (This interview was in 2016.) The dog I had at the time, a chocolate Lab, was getting some age on him. I’ve had a dog in my life continuously since I was around eight years old. And so, my husband, who loves shopping on the internet, decided it was time for me to get a new dog before my chocolate Lab crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. He would go online and tell me about this or that dog and I’d say “No, we have a dog.” But then one day he found a black Lab named Oscar. A horse training couple in a nearby city had rescued him from the side of a highway, took him back to the barn with them and named him Oscar. They wanted to keep him but had to travel with their job and weren’t able to take Oscar with them.
So, I looked at Oscar’s picture and said, yes. I couldn’t tell he was part Chow in the picture on the internet. That was lucky for both of us since if I’d known that, I might not have agreed to take him, because some Chows can be unfriendly. I have nine grandchildren and I didn’t want to worry about them playing with my dog. As it turned out, I couldn’t have asked for a better dog than Oscar. He got the Lab “I love everybody” gene although the UPS man is not so sure about that.
When we first brought Oscar home, he refused to come in the house. Refused. You had to drag him through the door, so we let him be an outside dog. Then, a few years ago, when we were having some work done on the house, our builder ran over Oscar in our yard. That was while I was sitting with my mother who had dementia, so I couldn’t come home to see about him. My husband took Oscar to the vet who said Oscar needed surgery with plates and pins to repair the leg. When I asked my husband how much it would cost, he said he didn’t figure that would matter to me and he was right. Oscar was worth the price, whatever it was. After we brought Oscar home, he had no choice except to come into the house while he recuperated.
Sometimes good things can come from the worst things. Oscar now eagerly comes inside although he will only come into the back room and my office. He won’t come through the kitchen door into the rest of the house even if the grandkids come or you try to coax him with bacon treats. He stands at the edge of the threshold, wags his tail, and waits for the grandkids or me to go to him. But at least he likes to be in my office so that I have a great dog companion to keep me company while I’m writing. He goes with me on my daily walks here on the farm and enjoys playing with the grandkids. He’s a very good dog!
Q: Since you’re an author and you come up with names all the time, how did you come up with Oscar?
AHG: I didn’t name Oscar. The couple who rescued him named him Oscar, but the name did appeal to me and was partly the reason I agreed to give him a home. But I have named many pet dogs in the past. I named the first dog that was truly mine Ollie for the man who gave me the pup when I was a little girl. I thought I’d given the man a big honor, but I could tell he didn’t feel all that honored when I told him what I named the pup. But I stuck with the name anyway.
Q: How does Oscar help you in your writing?
AHG: Oscar sleeps beside my desk and doesn’t complain if I go off into a story world. Occasionally, he pokes his head against my arm to let me know it’s time to get up and move a little. He goes with me on my walks and sniffs out his world while I try to think through knotty plot issues. He looks at me as though I am the most wonderful, smartest, best person ever. Sometimes a writer needs that. LOL. I’m sure he’d read my stories if he could turn the pages.
Q: Have you ever written one of your pets into a story?
AHG: Oscar hasn’t appeared in any of my stories, but he has become quite the fan favorite on my author’s Facebook page. Plus, he sometimes makes an appearance in my newsletters. However, I do often let my characters have furry buddies. My Hidden Springs mysteries all feature cat characters, but my main character, Michael, also has a dog named Jasper. In The Innocent, my main character had a dog friend named Asher that is surely the dog Oscar would like to be if he had the chance. In Scent of Lilacs, my young character, Jocie, had the same dog hunger I had as a youngster.
(Since I did this interview, I’ve had a number of dog characters in my stories. The one with the most scenes is Sarge in These Healing Hills. He even made the cover! A pup played a part in Along a Storied Trail too and Maisy is a good dog character in When the Meadow Blooms.)
So I suppose when I’m writing about a new four-pawed character, I use bits and pieces of all the dogs I’ve known, somewhat the same as how the two-footed characters in my stories spring from all the people I’ve known or met in stories.
Q: Tell us three things you and Oscar have in common.
AHG: 1. We both like walking here on our farm and looking for new things to see.
2. We both like cheese although I don’t have to hide my vitamins in it to make me take them the way I have to do for Oscar’s pills.
3. We both love it when the grandchildren come for a visit. 
I enjoyed going back in time to when Oscar was my writing and walking companion. I hope you liked reading the interview.
Do you have a special furry friend now or have had in the past?
Comments 19
I loved hearing about Oscar and the love you shared. I have always loved animals (except spiders and snakes) and have had my share of beloved companions that came into my life.
I married a man who did not love animals, he only tolerated them; if he had his way there would never have been animals in our home. We lived in the country and several dogs came to our house that got separated from their owners while hunting and except for one, someone came looking for them. A beagle mix appeared and stayed around for days (which I fed); it was in December and the temperature was supposed to drop to 5 above that night. My husband had a meeting to go to and I told him before he left that when he came home there might be a new member in the household which did not excite him.
I brought the dog inside and immediately she saw my cat and tore off after her; I screamed “no Lady no” chasing after her. The cat knew the house and escaped her but the name stuck (not sure why or where it came from). She was the best dog I have ever had and my children and I loved her for the next 12 years until she had to be put down due to a disk issue that the vet said could never be repaired to where she would have a good quality of life.
After my divorce (at 27 years of marriage), I moved away to find a job (about 4 hours away) to a new city, new apartment and eventually a new best friend in a 3 legged cat. As I sat patting her in front of my computer, I asked her “what am I going to name you”; as I stroked her I told her “I guess I am going to help you to heal your body while you help to heal my spirit. I guess we were destined to be together”, So Destiny and I began our life together and unfortunately I wasn’t ready to let her go either but after almost 6 years of kidney failure ravaged her body, I had to say goodbye. Destiny slept by my head on my pillow, she was my best friend and I will never forget her.
Now I have Bella, a Morkie (maltese/yorkie mix) and she is yapper, spastic at times but I love her and hope she and I have many more years together.
Thanks for sharing Ann and letting me share about the four legged children in our lives. I loved the picture of your grandchildren with Oscar!
Author
Thank you for sharing about your special animal friends, Pamela. We are so fortunate when we bond with that special furry friend and it sounds as though you have had that blessing often. My husband doesn’t really like that I let my dogs in the house, but he goes along with it since I like having the dogs inside. We do have a big yard where the dogs like to stay with the weather suits them. That’s almost all the time with Frankie as long as it’s not thundering. He’s not a dog that wants to shadow you which can be good and not so good. Oscar was more the kind of dog that wanted to stay with you which made him that sweet perfect dog. I’m glad you had some perfect companions in your life when you needed them most. Sounds as if that Lady found the perfect humans too, and your cat, Destiny, as well.
Ann, my four legged babies have been such a blessing in my life! Thank you for your kind words.
What a love story, again, on your blog! You touch my heart every time I read your words — the personal and the fictional. The pictures of Oscar are so telling, but the final picture of your grandkids loving on him, and able to do so, is the most awesome of all! What a great dog!
Author
Thanks you so much, Amy, for reading my story about Oscar and other stories too. I appreciate your kind words. Oscar was the best dog ever and the grandkids always loved seeing him. I looked ofr a different picture where even more of my grandkids were loving on him, but sometimes those pictures that you know are on your computer hide out in files you can’t find when you want them. 🙂
I loved reading about Oscar. Growing up, we always had dogs. They were all special in their own way. My dad always said that every child needs a dog. He had fond childhood memories of his German Shepherd, Buck who once saved him from drowning. We have no dog right now but we have Hector, a cat who is very special to us. We once had a cat named Oscar. As a kitten, he liked to sleep on top of the garbage can so the kids named him after the Sesame Street character.
Author
I’m with your dad on that, Lee. I think every kid should have a dog. Maybe a lot of adults too! Sounds as if he had a great dog that took care of him when he wa a kid. I’m glad you liked reading about Oscar. You’re right about how all dogs have their individual traits and ways of being best. Maybe that is the one thing that rewards us for having to give up a beloved pet before we’re ready since dogs don’t have a very long life span even at the best. But while we can remember that dog with fondness, we get another dog with those different traits and good points.
Cats are great pets too although I haven’t had one since we moved to the house where we are now. I’d like to get one now to live in our garage and be a garden cat to scare away the chipmunks that feast on my strawberries in the spring. It’s cute why your kids named one of your cats Oscar. I don’t guess that was a reason why Oscar got his names, or who knows? Maybe that couple that rescued him as a stray saw him trying to eat out of a garbage can.
Loved the story of Oscar. He was your dog when I first started reading your facebook page.
We have a yellow lab named Dixie, she is 9 years old. We got her when she was around 6 weeks old. She has grown into a most loving dog and seems to know what you are going to say before you tell her to do something. Her most favorite thing to do is go for a car ride. All you have to do is say the word “ride” and she makes a bee line to the car.
Author
So glad you enjoyed reading about Oscar again, Connie. He was a favorite on my FB page for sure.
Dixie sounds like a fun dog. Labs are the best. But as for that riding part, I don’t know what I do to my dogs, but my guys never want to take a ride. I had a black lab named Max who got sick every time he rode anywhere. He went missing after I’d had him almost a year. I got him as a little pup. Days later after I had looked everywhere for him, he suddenly appeared at the door. I decided someone had stolen him that wanted a truck dog and they found out Max didn’t take to riding. LOL. Then Oscar hated riding and Frankie goes bezerk when you have to take him somewhere in a vehicle. I always lay the blame for that on the fact that both dogs were abandoned on a road. Maybe pushed out of a truck or car and left. Just my guess anyway.
I loved your story about Oscar.
Author
So glad you enjoyed reading about my sweet dog, Oscar, Lynda. We used to always say Oscar was a person in a dog suit. He was without a doubt the most unusual dog I ever had the pleasure of loving. I’ve posted several stories about him on my blog. Here’s a link to one of them that has a few repeats but some new dog bits too. https://www.annhgabhart.com/2016/02/14/odd-dog-oscar/
Then here’s the last post where I said goodbye to my very good dog. https://www.annhgabhart.com/2017/10/15/my-very-good-dog-oscar/
I’ve had several best friends in my dogs. Duke, Shadow, Charlie and Chester broke my heart when lost them. I now have Buddy and Bandit.
Author
You are never ready to see those sweet furry friends move off over the Rainbow Bridge, Jane. But it’s good to welcome new buddies into your life. I like the names of yours.
Growing up in the country gave me plenty of dog companions, both mine and my brothers and those that lived on my grandparents farm. We’ve had collies, (Rosie, Princess and Ringo), collie/husky mix (Good Ole Sarge, who was heaven sent), border collie/lab mix (Cookie), Collie/Newfoundland mix (another Cookie), beagles (Mickey, Minnie, Corky, Sad Sack, and Lucky, who had lots of reasons to be called Lucky!), Cocker spaniels (Muffy, Buffy, Bubbles, Duchess), and several mixed breed mutts…too many to name. Most lived good long lives, but some met early tragedies on the road. And of course now I have Ollie, who is a neighborhood favorite and one of the best of the best.
One of the Cookies was a Christmas pup when I was about 4 years old. The other one was when my middle son Joshua was a toddler…he named her because she looked like a fluffy little chocolate chip cookie and Joshua loved Cookie Monster.
Lucky was one of 12 pups born to Minnie. The entire litter had to be bottle fed for the first few weeks because there were too many for the mom to feed. 3 didn’t live more than 2 days. When Lucky got older she kept trying to follow her mom on rabbit trails and had to be rescued from the briar patches and across the creek several times. When she was just 9 weeks old, (before she had a name), she dashed after a rabbit right into the path of the hay mower…losing part of her tail, 2 toes, an ear, and a lot of skin on her neck. After that, she became The Lucky Dog and a permanent family member. Lucky lived a good 17 years and grew up alongside the boys. She never liked coming inside either, and it wasn’t unusual for my youngest son to “camp out” with his best friend most summer nights.
I’ve always loved my furry companions and could share dog stories all day long!
Thanks for sharing yours, especially those that make it into your books.
Have a great week, Ann. 🙂
Author
Love the dog stories, Lavon. You have some good ones for sure. Lucky lived a long time to have had such an adventurous start. I don’t think I could name that many dogs, but we’ve had a bunch. Some that had hard endings. Some that lived out their lives in the normal time dogs have which is never long enough when you have a good dog. My dad wasn’t a hunter. So he never had hunting dogs and I had to beg for a long time before I got my first dog named Ollie like your neighborhood charmer. But I was persistent!
The photo of your grandchildren with Oscar is so precious!!!! My son had a dog for a bit, Midnight. She was a pound puppy, weighed 19 pounds fully grown. The pound said she was a Cocker Dachshund, but there was no Doxie in that dog! Midnight was a Cocker Schnauzer with a beautiful plumed tail, the Cocker ears and the Schnauzer beard. She was quite devoted to my son. When I tried to get him up for school, she would stand on the bed with her legs spread out and bark away at me. How dare I disturb her boy! The groomer would put bows on her ears and she hated them. She would rub and rub until they were gone. When my son and his friends would take off on their bikes, Midnight would be running right after them.
My friend has a Golden Doodle, Gracie, who loves everyone, like Oscar. She beleives she is a lap dog. When they bred Gracie my grandchildren were around six and seven. Gracie had 10 pups, and the grands would lay on the floor and the pups would climb all over them. This caused so much merriment!!!! I think Gracie is around twelve now, and still as sweet as sugar.
Gracie is twelve now and her temperment is still so sweet
Author
Midnight sounds like one of those very good dogs or at least one of those you don’t forget. I guess in her own way she was helping you get your son up because who could sleep through all those barks. 🙂 Those golden retrievers are another breed that loves everybody. Sounds like Gracie turned out that way.
My grandkids had a great time with some pups a few years ago after they adopted a female from the Humane Shelter that turned out to be bred. They did find good homes for all the pups and of course, kept one of them.
Since my husband is allergic to cat and dog dander, we don’t have our own pet. However, I help a single woman from our church with her children and adore their pet dog–a feisty but precious white Maltese that is about 4 human years old. She gets all excited when I first arrive at their home; after a while she calms down and actually cuddles. She allows me to pet her liberally. What a treat for me!
Author
Sometimes the best dogs to have are someone else’s dogs, Suzanne. You get the fun of playing and petting them while they keep the vet bills, the shedding hair, the wanting to go out at the most inconvenient times or whatever. You get the best parts of doggie love. 🙂