LOVE!
BY KATHERINE WYRICK PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN CHILSON
shop dogs (n.) A feature profiling our canine friends in retail. (Not just limited to dogs. Other species—cats, canaries, lizards—will appear here, too.)
2616 Kavanaugh Blvd. Little Rock 501.661.1167 www.shopboxturtle.com
Ellie in the Lucy Lockett Cabe Theatre.
Wildwood Bark
Have a Worry Free vacatioN!
Ellie takes center stage at park for performing arts
W
hen we arrive at Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts, a light rain is just beginning to fall, leaving the grounds lush and verdant. Ellie, a threeyear-old Australian Shepherd, looks ill-at-ease, and, as thunder rolls in the distance, she casts a sidelong glance at her owner Guy Couch. “She’s scared of storms. She really doesn’t like them,” he explains. On a clear day, Ellie would be out surveying the 105-acres at her disposal or tending the gardens with Couch. Instead, he asks her if she’d rather go to the office, at which her ears perk up and she makes a beeline for the building. She stops first at Cliff’s Baker’s door where she waits expectantly, shifting her weight from side to side, but Baker—Ellie’s other owner, Couch’s partner, and Director and CEO of Wildwood—isn’t in at the moment. She then leads us to the main office where she’s roundly greeted by co-workers, and heads to Benny Cagle’s door, where she’s always assured of a treat. “Oh, Benny is her favorite!” says the soft-spoken Couch, giving Ellie a scratch behind her silky ears. Ellie is obviously at home here, whether in the office or on the expansive grounds. “She runs the place,” laughs Kristen Vandaveer, Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator. And she does—literally. “They say these dogs can run up to 16 hours a day. It doesn’t even faze her,” marvels Couch. We then head to the auditorium—that place where countless audiences have enjoyed Wildwood’s many stellar shows over the years—for Ellie’s close-up. (There, she proceeds to perform a few show tunes from Cats. Kidding. ... She doesn’t like Cats. ) With her lustrous coat, gentle and intelligent eyes and sweet disposition, Ellie is a real scene stealer, though she sometimes does “share the stage” so to speak with her other canine co-workers—a Westie, German
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Ellie’s Top 5 Peanut butter
Running alongside the golfcart at the Park
Co-worker Benny Cagle who gives her treats and scratches her back
The cats. “We have four now, and she is very protective of them.”
Bonies. “She has to have one before she eats her real food.”
Shepherd mix and, on occasion, a Standard Poodle. It goes without saying that this is a dogfriendly office. On any given day, barring bad weather, Ellie can be found chasing after Couch in a golf cart or keeping Baker company in his office. A natural born herder, she will try to corral anything—from children to golf carts—and nips at the tires as Couch drives. Couch says that Ellie is the first full-bred dog he and Baker have ever had and describes their first meeting: “She was the runt, and she came over to Cliff and stayed right by his foot the whole time ... He just picked her up and said, ‘This is the one.’” He adds adoringly, with a shake of his head, “She’s just such a dog. Such a perfect dog.” Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts 20919 County Road 40 (501) 821-7275 www.wildwoodpark.org
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HAROLD MURCHISON, Owner Located In The Historic Lafayette Building at 6th And Louisiana Monday- Friday 10am-6pm www.arktimes.com AUGUST 31, 2011 41