There was absolutely no way to know Keith without knowing Napoleon. He worked his way into Keith's work, his animations, even his commercial projects. He was the feisty, barking counterpart to Keith's easy-going, laid back persona.
One day, after helping Keith move, he rewarded me with a delicious Italian sub. As Keith and I were sitting on the grass in front of his new apartment, our sandwiches between us, I heard this munching / grunting sound. I looked down to see Napoleon eating my sandwich. I grabbed it, but Napoleon held on fast. I pulled and pried, but he just dug in his heels and growled.
Keith, knowing that I would never win the sandwich back (and, frankly, why would I want it back at that point?), started laughing and said, "just let it go. I'll get you another one."
Sometimes it felt like no one in the world could love a dog like Napoleon. But Keith did.
Do you have a Napoleon story?
5 comments:
I couldn't agree more. Keith would go on and on about the little guy. You could always see a spark in Keith's eye when Napoleon was the topic of conversation. I'll never forget how the little guy would greet us - an enthusiastic bark with a little jump to coincide.
View one of Keith's animated "Napoleons" here by taking this quiz: http://www.getsmarter.org/flash/science34/index.cfm
It's true, Keith loved that dog. I first worked with Keith over nine years ago. One day I walked into work and noticed that Keith didn't turn around to say hello like he normally did. Our co-worker Matt clued me it that something was up and said I should go say hello to Keith. It was odd that Keith was keeping his back to everyone. So I walked over and said "Hey Keith", he sheepishly turned around to show me a huge bandage on his nose. Now, I had heard stories and had met Napolean, so immediately I put two and two together and said "Oh no, don't tell me...". And sure enough, Keith told me that he had gotten a little too much in Napolean's face in a playful and affectionate way and to keep Keith in line Napolean gave him a good bite to the nose. In Keith's easy-going and good-natured way he just shrugged as to say..."oh well". We all teased him about it and he laughed right along with us. He loved that dog! But it was more than apparent who ran the show. I laughed so hard, I've never forgotten that story. It was such a lame job for the both of us, but he made bearable and even fun on most days.
Several years ago, Keith was reading a book on dog psychology. He realized that he needed to establish himself as alpha male in his relationship with Napoleon in order to get control of Napoleon's bossy behavior.
Keith started doing psychological experiments, like wrestling Napoleon to the ground (or so he told me), holding him there, and then barking back at him. He would withhold food when Napoleon misbehaved, or put him in the kitchen behind a baby barrier if he started barking.
After a few months of the dog psychology experiment, Keith stopped talking about it. One day, I asked him what happened.
He said he just gave up. "I can't win," he replied glumly.
Keith once had a picture of Napoleon on his Web site, but it was from behind. I said, "Keith, you've got Napoleon's butt on your Web site." He said, "I know. I like his butt. Except when I have to clean the dingleberries."
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