Cover for Yusuf / Cat Stevens remake of “I Love My Dog”
Jess Rotter/Courtesy of the artist
My contribution to our blog today is a video I created about our dog Oakley. For me, one of the most fun aspects of creating videos is finding appropriate background music. In this case, after hours of listening to songs about and for dogs (we love Spotify!) I came across two that hit the spot.
The song you will hear first is “I’m Proud to be an American Dog,” a rather obscure piece from Kirk Olsen’s 2002 album Dog Songs (Happy Dog Records – 634479126048). I chose this because it is a fitting description of Oakley who is an Australian Shepherd. Let me explain.
Contrary to their name, Australian Shepherds are not Australian at all. In fact, the breed was developed as herding dogs on ranches in the United States during the 19th century. No one seems to be sure why “Australian” became part of the name. So, for the first part of the video I want to emphasize that Oakley is just a typical American dog.
The second song you will hear is “I Love My Dog” recorded by Cat Stevens in 1966. It was the first recording of his career. “Cat Stevens” was his stage name at the time, although he was born Steven Demetre Georgiou and in 1977, when he converted to Islam, he changed his name to Yusuf Islam. Fortunately for my purposes we can use his “Cat” moniker. You will see why this is relevant in the second part of the Oakley video you are about to see.
Oakley’s Secret: A Tailless Dog’s Tale
Big Little Meals 
Great video Andy. Oakley is the best!
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Is this like an early memorial video? 🙂 She’s pretty cute. And Silas is so tiny!
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Let’s not go there with an early memorial video. Rather, think of it as a tribute to an important part of our life. And, compared to the kid who headed off to Cal, Silas does look tiny.
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Great video, Andy!! I’m impressed with your obscure music choices. Those songs must have been hard to find.
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Thanks Charlene. Actually, these were songs obscure enough that I’m hoping that they duck under the copyright radar. But I did think they were a good match.
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Great videographer!
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Thanks Terry. I had great material to work with.
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Oakley playing with the kitten is the cutest thing ever!!!
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Actually it was cute. I think Oakley’s calling was to be a kitty nanny more than a shepherd.
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A lovely tribute!
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Thanks. Hard to imagine a better dog.
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