Elvis and the Underdogs

The Story Behind the Story:Elvis and the Underdogs

When I got my dog Doozy, a Newfoundland, she was a twelve-week-old puppy and already weighed 35 pounds. Every day I walked her on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, California, and like all puppies, she got stopped a lot by random strangers who wanted to say hello to the giant puppy. Since Newfoundlands are such large dogs, they are not very common, and everywhere I walked, people would tell me there was another black Newfy puppy, a boy named Finn, who lived in the area. Over and over this kept happening, but months passed and Doozy and I never once saw this mysterious neighboring Newfy.

Six months went by, and one day Doozy and I were walking along 14th Street when a giant white SUV stopped in the middle of the road, the driver’s side window rolled down, a giant mass of blond curls came out the window, and someone bellowed, “Is that Doozy?! Hey you! Is that Doozy?!” I was a little weirded out because she literally stopped traffic to yell at me, and cars were starting to pile up behind her. So I said, “Yes, this is Doozy.” And she yelled, “I’m going to pull over ahead. I’ve got Finn in the back!” And just like that Doozy and I finally met Finn and Nadine.

Doozy is now six years old and weighs 110 pounds; Finn is her boyfriend/best friend, and he weighs 160 pounds. Nadine and I have also become best of friends (but never you mind about how old we are and how much we weigh!). Nadine is absolutely the inspiration behind Benji’s mom in all the best ways. She has great hair, she’s funny and loud, and she’s a supercool mom to her actual kids and to her two Newfies (Finn now has a sister named Kimba). And, of course, my love of Doozy and Finn (and all Newfies) is the muse behind Elvis. I’m one of those dog owners who talk to their dogs sometimes (you know, the normal crazy-dog-owner amount . . . not the Houston-we-have-a-problem crazy amount). And if I was ever granted three wishes, I’d absolutely use one of them so Doozy and Finn could talk back. (And in case you were wondering, my second wish would be for a magic cake box that I could open every day and a different delicious cake would appear. And the jury is still out on my third wish, but I’ll keep you posted.)