Jeter, our” grand dog”, as we affectionately called him, is the only dog I’ve ever known who had his portrait painted by a well-known Asheville artist. Angela Alexander has a studio in the River Arts District of Asheville. We visited her studio several years ago. Hayden was in Asheville with Austin and asked if we’d mind driving him down to the River Arts District…”I have something I have to pick up there.”
“Sure, we’ll take you,” we told him.
We parked on Depot Street and went into a building with several artists' studios. The “pet artist” was upstairs. One could not have walked past it without noticing the floor to ceiling displays of colorful portraits of all kinds of animals from pigs and cows to cats, dogs, and roosters. Alexander seems to capture the energy and personality of the pets she paints in bold strokes, strong colors, and an abstract technique.
Hayden spoke to the gallery attendant, “I’m here to pick up a portrait I had done of my dog.” We looked up and there was Jeter’s portrait hanging on the wall. Although done in thick oil paint in tones of blue, and gold against a dark blue background, Jeter was a snow white dog in real life. However, the artist had captured his face, the way he held his head, and his dark intelligent eyes. We recognized him immediately.
Portrait by Angela Alexander
On the way home, holding the wrapped painting, Hayden explained that several months ago he had gone online from Washington D.C. and found Angela Alexander, a pet artist who happened to live in Asheville. He had corresponded via email and “commissioned” her to make a portrait of Jeter. He had sent various photos of Jeter which is what Ms. Alexander works from. He had not said anything to us about it before. I wondered if that was because it was an unusual thing to do or perhaps because he wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I’m not certain what lead him to order a professional portrait of Jeter. Now it seems like the best thing he could have done.
Jeter’s unexpected death last week came as a real shock to all of us. As Hayden said when he called to tell us the sad news, “I had no idea Jeter did not have more life in him…it seemed too soon for him to go. I wasn’t ready to let him go.”
I thought of that this week as I came across a review of Mary Oliver’s book of poetry called Dog Songs. In the book she echoes Hayden’s exact sentiments when she writes:
We loved Jeter and looked forward to seeing him when we visited in Washington D.C. or when he came to Biltmore Lake. Art would walk him three and four times a day in the city from 15th St. all the way to Lincoln Park and back. He and Jeter came to know every city block and every house in the northeast Capitol Hill district. Jeter knew where the leftover chicken bones were that he was not supposed to pick up. Art became familiar with which houses had the yappy dogs or the unfriendly ones to avoid.
When we first arrived at Hayden’s door straight from the airport, Jeter would get excited when he knew it was Art. He would squeal and talk in his “dogspeak” as if to say, “Oh, I’m so happy you are back…let’s go for some walks.”
Jeter knew Art’s voice, his gentle touch and truly loved him. If ever Hayden put us on “speaker phone” from Asheville to Washington, Jeter would start to whine with excitement when he heard Art say something. They bonded and stayed that way despite the 475 miles between Asheville and Washington.
It is spring again in Asheville and when I open the front door every day to our green lawn out front I see Jeter happily sitting with his paws stretched out underneath the shade tree with its new greenery. I remember his ears twitching as he would take in the sound of the many birds around here and smell the air which is not like inner city Washington. Hayden would tether his leash to a stake in the ground and he could contentedly lounge outdoors for hours. I like to think that he, too, had his “vacation mode” which he fully embraced on his visits to Biltmore Lake.
Whether on walks with him in Biltmore Lake or Washington D.C., he drew attention from many because of his very white, short haired coat. He stood out as being different.
“Oh…what kind of dog is that?” people would stop to ask.
“He is not a breed,” we’d respond. “He was born in the bush outside Gulu, Uganda,” we’d say. No one knew quite what to say after that.
Jeter on a visit to Biltmore Lake...
He was born in Uganda and Jessica got him as a puppy in 2007 when she lived on her own compound in Gulu. She named her puppy Jeter after Derek Jeter, the well-known New York Yankees baseball player. (She is a passionate baseball fan as I learned after getting to know her.) She and Hayden met in Gulu, and several years later decided to return to Washington D.C. to look for jobs. Hayden called us to tell us they were moving back to the US and that Jessica was bringing a Ugandan dog. I remember thinking about the long trip back from Africa for a dog . How would a bush dog adapt to city living in Washington? Surely, she hadn’t thought this through very clearly.
Jessica and Hayden first settled into a basement apartment in Capitol Hill and Jeter began his transition from bush dog to trained city dog. They walked him on a leash regularly and frequented dog parks. Only once did Jessica confess that Jeter still had his hunting dog instincts. One day he broke free when she hadn’t grasped the leash strongly enough and killed a squirrel that was darting off across the park. Jess was mortified and took care after that. In time Jeter grew into a well behaved and much admired city dog.
Hayden bought a house in 2011 with a small fenced back garden. They moved in and found jobs and went to work. Jeter took to the dog walker who came at noon each day for a half hour walk in the neighborhood. Hayden and Jess fell into the rhythm of early morning and late afternoon dog walks. Jeter mellowed as he grew up and matured in the city.
Austin was born in February 2014 and Jeter went from being “only child” to “second” child even though he had come first. Jess and Hayden took great care to make sure Jeter kept his distance in case of jealousy and he did. As Austin grew up he never took to Jeter and we always wondered why. Perhaps he isn’t a dog lover.
Austin was born in February 2014 and Jeter went from being “only child” to “second” child even though he had come first. Jess and Hayden took great care to make sure Jeter kept his distance in case of jealousy and he did. As Austin grew up he never took to Jeter and we always wondered why. Perhaps he isn’t a dog lover.
Jeter did get boundless love from Jessica and Hayden and then from us, his grandparents. I haven’t truly loved a dog as I did Jeter since we lost our own poodle Sabrina in 1991. I am glad we got to share in the love of this unusual African dog.
Now I want to say to Jessica, “You did the absolute right thing to bring Jeter back to the United States…even though we thought you were crazy at the time.”
I want to say to Hayden, “You did the right thing having Jeter’s portrait painted by a known Asheville artist. That will always be special.”
I will think of Jeter this spring and summer as I open my front door and picture him “in spirit” enjoying a lazy stretch on my front lawn.
Art and I will miss him when we next visit in Washington D.C. How can we walk those familiar blocks in Capitol Hill without him along? I like to think he will be along “in spirit” when we are there.
I was drawn this week to Mary Oliver’s book Dog Songs and this poem in particular,
The Sweetness of Dogs
What do you say, Percy? I am thinking
Of sitting out on the sand to watch
The moon rise, It’s full tonight.
So we go
And the moon rises, so beautiful it
Makes me shudder, makes me think about
Time and space, makes me take
Measure of myself: one iota
Pondering heaven. Thus we sit, myself
Thinking how grateful I am for the moon’s
Perfect beauty and also, oh! How rich
It is to love the world. Percy, meanwhile,
Leans against me and gazes up
Into my face. As though I were just as wonderful
As the perfect moon.
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