Delilah the basset hound may be blind, but that doesn’t stop her from hiking with her humans, lying about the house, and being just too darned cute.
Her eyes, says owner Charlotte Cathro, 34, of Northampton, are both her most fetching feature and her downfall.
“Everyone looks at her and says, ‘oh my god! Those eyes!’” says Cathro of Delilah’s huge, glossy orbs. “She has such expressive eyes. That attractive quality is also what doesn’t work for her.” Cathro says Delilah, a puppy mill rescue, joined the family as a 13-week-old pup. Cathro flew to Utah in 2010 to retrieve the baby basset, who had infected dog bites on her tail and back, ear mites, kennel cough, and intestinal parasites. She quickly settled into her Florence home, fully acquainting herself with the La-Z-Boy recliner and quickly acquiring the skill of toast thievery.
Then, as Delilah began suffering from eye troubles years later, Cathro took to social media. You can find adorable photos of Delilah in a tiara, taking in the sights at Machu Picchu, and just lazing about.
Cathro says Delilah’s online presence serves both as a way to share the cute and connect with other pet parents dealing with glaucoma-related issues. Cathro says she felt it was important to spread the message that “you can find a purebred puppy to adopt and also that animals have medical issues you have to expect, that caring for an animal is expensive and people need to have a savings account for these types of situations.” Cathro says regular messages from the online community provide valuable knowledge and support. Plus, she says, “it’s always nice to have even more Delilah out in the world.” And people on social media think so, too. In just about a year online, Delilah has 3,300 Instagram followers. She also has a Facebook page and a page on Packdog.com. This summer, a photo of her sporting her Ruff Rider — a doggy seatbelt — got picked up by Bark Post. “I was happy that we got to draw attention to that,” says Cathro. “It’s an important safety issue.” Delilah’s relationship with the La-Z-Boy also earned her a spot on a recent Buzzfeed list titled, “18 Reasons Having a Dog is Better Than Having a Significant Other.” Naturally, La-Z-Boy’s corporate page is one of Delilah’s followers.
Since Delilah lost her vision last year, Cathro says she’s come to depend on that hounddog sense of smell. She says Delilah’s still the dog she was when she could see — trash can revelling and counter-surfing and all.
Cathro says she got into posting pictures of Delilah when she was off work for her maternity leave. “And now I can’t stop doing it,” she says.
Cathro didn’t have any experience with photography or photoshopping before Delilah’s online premiere, but she’s clearly learned the skill — perhaps her doe-eyed subject makes things a little easier. She’s collected iPhone lenses and learned how to use Superimpose for #WheresDelilahWednesday, for which she’ll post a superimposed image of Delilah visiting tourist destinations around the globe.
Cathro, who volunteers as board treasurer for Dakin Animal Shelter, says she’s brainstorming ways to use Delilah’s celebrity for the greater good.
She says Dogly hosts contests, awarding money to the shelter who can drum up enough online popularity. Dakin is beginning to experiment with the page, she says, though it’s challenging to win the cash prize without aggressive posting.
“I’m sort of curious to see how that shakes out,” says Cathro.
Cathro may have gotten used to the fact that Delilah is just more popular than her online, but the family makes sure to tease her a bit in order to keep that celebrity ego in check.
“We joke at home that it’s all gone to her head,” says Cathro. “We’ll say, ‘No, Delilah. You don’t get two breakfasts just because you’re famous.’”•
Contact Amanda Drane at adrane@valleyadvocate.com.
