Summer 2024
The first dog in my life was an English Setter named Sam. My parents got him when I was 3 or 4 years old and he was a gentle companion to my childhood, blinking at me as I dressed him in princess outfits, made him sit through tea parties in my living-room fort and, once, turned his multitude of brown spots into a connect-the-dots project with my magic markers. Despite his gentle demeaner, or perhaps because of it, my parents were set on him sleeping outside at night in a fenced area behind our house that came to be known as “Sam’s yard.”
Because I was little and didn’t know any better, I thought this was normal. And maybe it was in those days. My mom had grown up on a farm where all the animals, including cats and dogs, lived outside. My dad, who had gotten Sam from a hunter friend but was not a hunter himself, perhaps thought that making Sam sleep outside would prevent him from becoming spoiled, help him keep his edge — for what, I’m not sure. He built Sam a cozy doghouse for his yard, and out Sam went every night. This lasted for months, maybe a year, until my parents finally relented (I don’t remember why) and Sam was allowed to slumber in the house. When I think about it, I’m a little mortified and a lot heartbroken that we relegated our sweet Sam to nights outside by himself for a time.
I’m pretty sure my kids don’t believe me when I tell them this story. And why would they? Our labradoodle, which has been their childhood companion for nearly a decade now, sleeps on the bed (first it was ours, now our son’s), naps on the couch, and spends as much time as possible within eyesight or, better yet in his book, sitting on one of his humans. Spoiled? Definitely. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
For all of us dog-spoilers in the Gorge, there’s yet another way to indulge our furry friends thanks to Debbie Hendrickx and her company Swell, Gelato for Dogs. What started with a dog-gelato cart at a Seattle dog park has grown into a flourishing business based in The Dalles with five employees and distribution coast to coast. You can read our story by Cate Hotchkiss beginning on page 20.
You’ll find a lot of other interesting stories in this issue, including a feature on the new Mitchell Point Tunnel (page 40), a profile on jewelry maker Jen Trude and her Tru | Design studio in White Salmon (page 24), and piece on a new 19th-century themed boutique hotel in Hood River (page 10). Page through and enjoy. Happy summer!
— Janet Cook, Editor
