Written By Megin Potter | Photos PROVIDED
When a photographer can’t find a North Myrtle Beach rental willing to allow pets, he posts a picture of his dog, Pete, pleading for a place. The playful ploy not only landed the man and his dog pet-friendly lodging, it also launched an online travelogue that people just love.
“Pete,” an 8-year-old golden retriever, is the type of dog that attracts affection wherever he goes. Kids run over when they see him, exalting his cuteness and proclaiming how they always wanted a dog like this. People love having their pictures taken with them and share pictures of their own pets. Last year, a Facebook page, Pete & Pop’s Adventures, launched. In just a few months, it has attracted 3,000+ followers, and spurred a surge of positive sentiments on the site.
“People really, really love this dog, the pictures, the story – the whole megillah. He has a real fan club and every day there is a story,” said Pete’s Pop, George Hanstein.
Puppy Love
As an only child growing up in Paterson, NJ, George Hanstein talked with his dog “Tippy” about everything. He learned that dogs are great listeners. He’s had 10 dogs since, six of which were golden retrievers. When his dog “Jake” was 12 years old, George found “Pete” among a litter of nine.
“He picked me, I didn’t pick him,” said George. The puppy ran up to him, so he picked him up, flipped him over on his back (to ensure he’d be submissive) he explained, then said, “That was it. We became best friends on the spot.”
Since then, the two have been inseparable. Last year, six years after retiring from working in the Broadalbin-Perth Central School District for 22 years, George began searching for a winter escape in North Myrtle Beach. Posting a picture of Pete in a trapper’s hat on the North Myrtle Beach Local page garnered so many responses that the page administrator contacted Pops and suggested he start his own page for him and Pete. Most posts on the page are told from Pete’s point of view.
“Pete writes, I just type,” said his Pops. Pete is well-behaved, and rarely growls, snaps, or is mean to people or other dogs. “He just wants to hang out and on Facebook (which can be such a mean place generally) people are responding with kindness.”
Finding Connection in a Dog-Eat-Dog World
In the canon of publications about dogs, works about how to choose, train, and care for them once dominated the landscape, but now, in a subtle, but important shift, we have begun exploring animal’s minds.
By using the anthropomorphism commonly deployed in fairy tales, fables, and children’s stories, Pop is creating a phenomenon that has people of all ages running out to greet Pete on the beach at sunrise. Pete & Pop’s Adventures have appeared on stickers, and t-shirts (with much of the profit from sales of the shirts being donated to no-kill animal shelters). Pete and Pop have also appeared at fundraisers for Kind Keepers Animal Shelter and the North Myrtle Beach Humane Society. They hope to do more of this kind of work.
Jubilant and entertaining, through the simple, childlike playfulness of these interactions, readers experience a range of emotions and an overarching enthusiasm for life.
“Our connection with dogs is an ethereal thing,” said Pop.
For 20 years, Pete’s Pops was a professional photographer working in New Jersey and New York City, shooting portraits, fashion, commercial, and product photography. Often, subjects would bring dogs to their shoots.
Today, Pete is a natural in front of the camera and he likes being rewarded with Stewart’s Shops’ cheeseburgers. He has a growing collection of outfits (that he dons for photo shoots) and between 20-30 bandanas.
Wherever they go on their adventures, there’s one thing Pop and Pete never leave home without – the love a man has for his dog.
For more, follow Pete & Pop’s Adventures on Facebook.