The story of Ralph and his pal, Andy, was originally conceived from Terry’s love of dogs, and the help of a young friend of his. While observing his young friend and the family pet, he knew that there was no better way to help children and dogs interact than to actually create a story in which the entire family can get involved, family pet included.
Meet Terry’s dog, Rembrandt, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Rembrandt was a silly dog who loved to do all sorts of fun things like steal shoes, run around the backyard like a crazy dog and fetch large branches. No small stick was big enough; it had to be almost an entire tree!
He also loved the sport of dog agility, to swim in the ocean, and most of all, Rembrandt loved to do tricks. He would shake his paw, wave, bow, jump through hoops, ride a raft in the pool, and you could put hotdogs on his nose and he would toss them up in the air and catch them. But by far his favorite trick of all was to rollover.
Ralph looks a lot like Rembrandt, because Ralph’s character was based on Rembrandt. Rembrandt was the model for illustrator Shannon Darch’s wonderful artwork.
Terry loved Rembrandt and Rembrandt loved Terry. With love, Terry has dedicated Ralph’s First Day of School to the memory of Rembrandt. He was a good old boy.
