Dexter, the dog from Ouray who walks on his hind legs, can now add starring in a children’s book to his resume.
The 10-year-old Brittany spaniel’s life is the subject of “Dexter: The Stand Up Dog,” which was released Sept. 16. The book, written by Dexter’s mom, Kentee Pasek and Bonnie Kelso (who also illustrated it), is available in both English and Spanish.
But, Pasek said, instead of being able to enjoy the book’s release, Dexter has had a fairly difficult autumn.
If you missed him at this year’s Durango Cowboy Gathering, it was because he was in Italy having surgery on the elbow of his remaining front leg, she said.
“Dexter ruined the two adult pins that were fusing that elbow together in the front, and we had to instantly take care of that,” she said. “The vet here tried to get a lot of the different orthopedic surgeons in the U.S. to take him, and nobody would, because it’s so complicated.”
Fortunately, a surgeon in Milan was able to take him, and they were there for almost two weeks.
“He’s doing really well. He still has the cone of shame on,” she said. “He’s walking around still learning how that new elbow works. He’s not so sure yet. He’s a trooper.”
Dexter began walking upright after an accident when he was just turning a year old. He escaped from his yard while sniffing a deer trail scent and his front legs were run over by a car. Pasek and her husband brought him to a vet in Montrose where, while everything was fine with him internally, his legs were in pretty rough shape. One was amputated, and the other was a little trickier, ultimately having pins put into the elbow. The Paseks had a custom wheelchair made for him, but he wasn’t having it, and so he began walking upright. And to watch him get around is pretty amazing: He walks for a bit upright and then goes back down on his two (and a half) legs for a rest and then pops back up.
The world came to know about him when a woman traveling through Ouray happened to catch Pasek’s mother walking Dexter in his way. She posted a video of the two to her TikTok account and it blew up. Pasek ended up making an account of her own for Dexter to tell his story, and the rest is history – he’s been in dog food commercials, on talk shows and now in his book.
Dexter's story resonates with people because not only is it fascinating to watch him walk, there’s a deeper message to be taken away from him, Pasek said.
“It’s relatable because you’re like, ‘Oh, he is resilient. He is persevering, he keeps going,’” she said. “No matter what, Dexter has that little positive walk and is happy to be there in life. And I think sometimes, because as an animal, he just bounced back so fast and so hard, it resonates for us to be like, ‘I maybe shouldn’t have a bad attitude about this. Or maybe this isn’t as bad. Or if Dexter can do it, I can too.’”
At one point, Pasek said, a retired Navy officer knocked on their door in Ouray. He told them he had had hip surgery but wasn’t doing his physical therapy – until he saw Dexter.
For more
“Dexter: The Stand Up Dog,” by Kentee Pasek and Bonnie Kelso (who also illustrated), is available at Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.
For more information, visit https://tinyurl.com/4pbuhynj.
For more information about Dexter, visit https://www.dexterdogouray.com.
“I think Dexter touches on the very human side of us to the point that we’re like, maybe it’s just so deep ... you don’t know what’s going on in other people’s lives. You don’t know emotionally, physically what they’re going through,” she said. “And Dexter’s like, ‘OK, yes, acknowledge that you’re going through this, but keep going.’”
And that’s what she hopes people take away from the book.
“I think that’s Dexter’s message, period. So the book itself tells about his story, about being injured and then going through all this but still shining, still pushing through it,” Pasek said. “Keep going one step at a time. Don’t take life so complicated, take it one step at a time. That’s really his theme, and it’s been his theme all the way through.”
katie@durangoherald.com
