Diary of a Dog: Wubbo

Goededag, my name is Wubbo and I’m a rare Dutch breed of Kooikerhondje. Given that Wubbo is pronounced ‘Fibbo,’ I’m seldom called the same way twice, but I come happily to any variation. Although my lineage is tied to the Old Country, I’m delighted to make my residence with Lynn and Rick in Palo Alto. Since Rick is an aerospace engineer, he named me after Wubbo Ockels, a brilliant Dutch physicist and shuttle astronaut. With my explorer’s soul, I think I’d make a great candidate for first dog on Mars (Elon Musk, are you listening?) and I dream of playing gravity-free fetch with the astronauts. I love everyone and wiggle exuberantly when I meet my favorite people. My feathery tail, which I wave in the air, is like the plumed hats in Rembrandt portraits. In fact, a few of my ancestors have posed for Dutch Golden Age paintings, including Pieter de Hooch’s Woman with Children (and Kooikerhondje!) in an Interior, which can be viewed at San Francisco’s Palace of the Legion of Honor. I do my best to live up to the family reputation by prancing proudly, dancing on my hind legs and launching onto laps. I also take great pride in my stunning black ‘earrings,’ a breed characteristic. Let it be known, I’m an AKC Canine Good Citizen, and much like the revelers in Dutch paintings, I always seem to be laughing.