The Miracle Dog
By Ellen English

Upset not only at his &quotstupidity" but at the expectation of stripping down to swim the bitter cold creek, Brad decided to send the most expert swimmer in the group: Otis-his best buddy and constant companion, who also happens to be a yellow Lab. The hard working, loyal dog seemed to sense that something was wrong and let Brad know that he was eager to help. The pair had practiced various voice commands and hand signals that are typically used by hunters, but how would Brad tell Otis to retrieve the boat?

&quotI held Otis' head in both my hands, looked him in the eyes to get his undivided attention and then gave him a few words of encouragement," Brad remembers. He is used to hearing, get in the boat, go to the front and go to the back from their many hunting and fishing trips, so Otis followed those commands and headed across the creek towards the boat. Since there was no practiced command to get the rope, Brad could only hope for some sort of miracle.

To Brad and Stuarts utter astonishment, Otis grabbed the rope on his own and held it firmly in his mouth. With a series of commands and hand signals, Brad directed Otis to get back in the water and start swimming towards them. Now the question was: would an 85-pound dog be strong enough to pull an 18-foot boat with a 130-horsepower engine out of the mud and then tow it against the current and wind across the creek?

" I could tell from the look in his eyes and the puffing of his cheeks that he was propelling his feet with all his might," Brad remembers with pride. Even though the force of dislodging the boat caused him to snap backward, Otis swam determinedly for 20 minutes, delivering the rope to Brad's hand before dropping in exhaustion. With tears of joy and amazement welling in his eyes, Brad hugged his best and most loyal friend. He then looked into Otis noble eyes and asked him: how would you like your steak cooked tonight?!

The story seemed too good to be true, even to some of their friends and family, but as Stuart, a tennis instructor who went to college with Brad, explained, if it can be done, Otis could do it. Otis will listen to and do everything Brad tells him to. The pair has an especially strong bond that began in 1996 when Brad adopted the abandoned puppy. Fraternity brothers of Brads from the College of Charleston found Otis in the yard of a downtown church and knowing that the Cromartie family had always been Lab people, they took Otis to the friend whod know what to do.

In the beginning, the young puppy cowered and whimpered, trembling with apparent fear at being handled-a very sure sign of abuse and neglect. Brad wished he could keep the pup but didnt feel that he should take on the responsibility in addition to his college obligations. He notified the Charleston PD and the SPCA, put ads in the newspaper and even walked around town with the puppy in hopes of finding where he came from or of finding him a good home. Even though Brad found a few people interested in taking Otis, it just didn't feel right to give him up. It had been eight weeks since Otis was first found and the two were already attached. Brad then named him Otis because the puppy reminded him of the character Otis Campbell on The Andy Griffith Show who was kind of dopey but loveable. Of course, this Otis turned out to be quite brilliant, living up to the Greek meaning of his name: hears well or acute.

Brad grew up with Labs and credits both his father, Jimmy, and the late Richard Wolters with his enthusiasm for dogs and training. Wolters, the author of many training books including Game Dog and Water Dog, had done a demonstration at the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition back when Brad was just in elementary school. Afterwards, Wolters signed a book with the inscription: A good dog is good conservation, which means that a well-trained dog will do a better job of retrieving game from the field and thereby cause less wasted game. The quote stuck with Brad, who would later take a few extra minutes every day to mold a little puppy into a fine hunting dog.

Using Wolters' book " Game Dog," Brad began teaching Otis the voice commands and hand signals commonly used in the field. While Otis is generally a laid-back dog, Brad says his whole demeanor changes when I put on my camouflage, pick up a gun and say lets go huntin! He really gets charged up...he's always ready to go. The pair has gone on many duck, quail, squirrel and dove hunts, as well as many camping, hiking and fishing trips, but Brad feels that Otis is really in his element when he's in a duck blind."

When hes not hunting - or retrieving boats - Otis has a pretty active social life. He often hangs out in the studio of Brad's girlfriend, artist Shannon Smith, and he occasionally goes to work with Brad whos a financial adviser. He's a crowd pleaser, Brad smiles, he loves children. Otis knows several tricks but one of the best is when Brad points his finger at Otis like a gun and says, " Bang, you're dead!" Otis slowly drops to the ground, groans with sad looking eyes and pretends to die. One of his favorite activities is getting together with the many dogs that belong to Brads friends and family for what Cromartie calls mud-wallering parties. His four footed friends include three yellow Labs- Nell, Kaley and Scout, plus Aggie and Dixie- both black Labs, Bowden-an English Setter, Riley-a Golden Retriever, Allie-a Cocker Spaniel and Murphy- a Wheaton Terrier. Hes even got acquaintances of the cat variety, including a stray cat adopted by Brad named Lucky Mike, and Ollie, a Himalayan cat belonging to Shannon.

Certainly his most unusual pal was a squirrel named Curly. Brad came home from work one day to find four cats staring intently at something in his yard. When Brad cleared them away, he found a baby squirrel, so young that its eyes were still closed. Brad decided to raise it and began feeding it a goat's-milk formula every three hours, housing it in a 5-gallon bucket wrapped with a heating pad and even taking it to work with him. Like most dogs, Otis had not been particularly fond of squirrels. In fact, hed once been bitten on the nose by one while on a squirrel hunt. But the intuitive Lab somehow knew Curly was different. Brad would let Otis carefully sniff Curly, saying, " be good, be easy." Otis always handled Curly with care and would even let Curly climb on him! But as the squirrel grew up, Brad realized he couldn't keep him as a pet and released Curly into the wild.

After Otis incredible boat retrieval, Brad felt compelled to write a tribute to his remarkable dog and e-mail it to friends. It began with this paragraph:

" Through the hectic society that we live in today, we often forget about the things closest to our hearts. If you have ever owned a pet, you can easily understand their special ability to touch our lives. My life has been enriched by the unconditional love and loyalty of my pet dog, who I strongly believe was united with me by an act of fate."

Brads e-mail circulated around for two years and led to a feature on the front page of the High Profile section of Charlestons The Post and Courier newspaper. Timed to coincide with the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, or SEWE, (see-wee) an annual event in town considered the largest wildlife art show in the country, the article marked the first time that a non-human had been featured. SEWE spotlights some of the top painters, sculptors and carvers in the country who portray wildlife, hunting and fishing adventures. Otis story was a perfect fit and we were delighted to have the opportunity to meet the celebrity Lab during his visit to the exposition. His presence caused an impromptu gathering of fans whod read the High Profile feature and led to a segment on the local news, filmed right in front of our showroom.

Even with all the fuss being made about Otis, its easy to see that the devotion between Brad and his dog transcends all the commotion. Otis is tuned into Brad's every move and focuses his attention on his every word. Hes my best friend, Brad explains, he's my boy...he's just a wonderful, wonderful dog. We couldn't agree more.





















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