Cooper and Swirl

Cooper and Swirl’s great friend Priscilla shares this sweet vintage photo of her husband’s father, Billy, and his Boston Terrier, Jackie, circa 1922. Priscilla has a couple of revealing stories about that angelic-looking little boy and his napping pup …

“Billy grew up in New York, so that’s where the picture was probably taken. His father was a violinist in burlesque theaters, but also played Carnegie Hall! Bill did not get the musical gene, but went on to become a big Pentagon mucketymuck. And he always liked dogs.

Many years ago, when my husband and I had a Boston Terrier, Bill asked my husband what Boston Terriers did. He asked this while the dog was snuggled on his lap. My husband answered, “She’s doing it, dad.” …Bill clarified his question with, “I mean, do they hunt, are they for sport, working dogs — what were they intended for?” … But my husband insisted, “She’s doing what she was bred to do: sit on your lap and keep your knees warm —  that’s it.” … He left out: they bite bad little boys….

You see, Bill once said to me, categorically, “I don’t like Boston Terriers.”  Why is that? I asked. “Because one bit me when I was a kid,” he said sullenly, and pouted like he was 5-years-old… What did you do to it? I asked… Indignantly, he said, “That’s just what my mother said!” But he never told me, what he had done … Yea, he was 5, you know he did something …”

“We love this photo,” Cooper says, “and thank Priscilla for sharing it with us!”