2025 Dog Stories
SIX LOCALS AND THEIR BELOVED POOCHES
SHADOW, HUSKY, AGE 8
THE OWNER: Diego Cancel, Supervisor, Coral Gables Sustainability and Resiliency Department
DOG STORY: Shadow, an eight-year-old husky, isn’t a normal dog. He’s a Spanish-speaking, Bad-Bunny-singing superstar. “The song ‘Dakiti’ by Bad Bunny – he sings to that song,” says his owner, Diego Cancel. Shadow lives with three cats and a replica Husky toy that once terrified him. “We have a pretty big replica of a Husky and when we first got it he was terrified of it. He actually growled at the fake Husky. Now it’s one of his favorite toys,” he recalls. Shadow is also impressively multi-lingual: “[He] knows Sign Language and Spanish and pretty much every trick with sign,” says Cancel. With Shadow’s pop culture upbringing and linguistic savviness, there’s no denying that he’s “definitely a Latino dog.”
KOBE, PINCHER-GREYHOUND, AGE 13
THE OWNER: Luli Lameran, Corporate Patient Experience Manager, Baptist Health South Florida
DOG STORY: Rescued during COVID-19 after being returned by three families, Kobe, a 13-year-old pincher-greyhound mix, finally found the home she’d been waiting for with Luli Lameran and her family. “She was the first one that came up to me. And when she did, I looked at my daughter and I said, ‘This is the dog,’” says Lameran. “I always say dogs pick you, you don’t pick the dog.” Though Kobe had her fair share of challenges as a rescue, “she is the perfect definition of what unconditional love is… When I get a cold, I’ll get really, really sick for like two or three days. I’ll be in bed. She will not even go out to do her necessities until I get up. She will stay next to me the entire time. She’s just very kind, a very kind soul,” says Lameran.
MARS, AUSTRALIAN CATTLEDOG, AGE 5 | SAMMY, SHEEPADOODLE MIX, AGE 6
THE OWNER: Jonah Kaplan, General Manager, Books & Books
DOG STORY: For Books & Books Manager Jonah Kaplan, his two rescue dogs feel like two reflections of himself. “They’re each like my opposites, each like my different personalities,” he says. “Mars is super outgoing and kinda crazy, super hyper. Sammy is more relaxed, more reserved.” Mars, a five-year-old Australian Cattledog, is the mad spirit of the house, “He’s like a wild animal. When I used to live in Colorado, he would dig under the snow and stay there,” Jonah laughs. On the other hand, Sammy, a six-year-old Sheepadoodle mix, prefers calm and familiarity. “He is scared of the dark, so I can’t really walk him at night unless, for some reason, we’re with my girlfriend.” That contrast – or balance – even shows up in the way they sleep: “Sammy likes to sleep on the pillow above me. Like, literally, almost on the windowsill. And then Mars is always at my feet.”
SAVANNAH, GERMAN SHEPHERD, AGE 5
THE OWNER: Nicole Fridling Cook, Graduate Student Researcher, University of Miami Psychology Department
DOG STORY: Savannah, a five-year-old German Shepherd, is more than just a cuddly companion for Nicole Fridling Cook. As a guide dog, Savannah helps Fridling Cook, who is legally blind, navigate the world around her. “For me to get around, it’s way easier to have a guide dog because when you get around with a cane, you are basically looking for obstacles,” Fridling Cook says. Just like any working professional, Savannah takes her job seriously, but when she’s off the clock she likes to play and relax like any other dog – though her intelligence gives her certain advantages. “When my husband was getting his MBA, I taught her how to dunk into a little mini basketball hoop, because we were bored during the NCAA tournament,” says Friddling Cook. Despite her playful nature, Savannah clearly loves her occupation as a guide dog. “When I say ‘Hey, do you wanna go to work?’ she’ll sprint to the door and run into her harness She really wants to go to work, probably more than anybody else.”
IZZY, FRENCH BULLDOG, AGE 4 | MARLEY, FRENCH BULLDOG, AGE 6
THE OWNERS: Monique Selman, General Contractor, Albany Homes Construction Inc., and Attorney George David
DOG STORY: Izzy and Marley are the ultimate Frenchie duo – equal parts chaos and cuddles. Izzy, the four-year-old rescue, is all heart – unless you’re the vet. “She’ll come up and lick you and do all these things, but to the vet she growls. She hates the vet and [sometimes] tries to bite,” says her owner, Monique Selman. Marley, the older Frenchie, is the full-time mischief maker. “If Izzy has a toy that Marley wants, Marley will come to me and get affection from me so Izzy will drop the toy and come, and then Marley goes off and gets the toy that Izzy dropped.” Despite the antics, the bond between them all is unbreakable. “I have a human-sized dog bed so I lie in it and watch tv. Then the dogs come and snuggle with me and fall asleep on my lap. That’s our favorite time of the day.”
LUCY, DACHSUND, AGE 17 | SCOUT, DACHSUND, AGE 6 | GINNY, FRENCH BULLDOG, AGE 1
THE OWNER: Vanessa Blanco-Baños, CEO, The Grove Title & Trust, PLLC Executive Vice President, Junior League Miami
DOG STORY: In the Blanco-Baños household there is never a dull moment with their three pups. Lucy, a 17-year-old Dachshund, is the dignified elder; Scout, six, is the friendliest pup; and Ginny, a deaf one-year-old French Bulldog, is the family clown. “They’re like the morning energy before the coffee, so before anything, it’s doggy time, every day,” says Vanessa Blanco-Baños, the mom of the house. Ginny is especially full of antics. “She’ll pretend she doesn’t know how to go up and down the stairs so she can be carried. But if there’s food on the other side of it, all of a sudden she figures out how to use the stairs very well,” says Blanco-Baños. Meanwhile, Scout and Lucy are two peas in a pod. “The Dachshunds – their favorite toy is each other. Like they really just will not do anything without the other one paying attention.”