Especially when we do things together, our dogs might appear to be family members. So it makes reasonable that our dogs and cats would participate in the celebrations of life’s milestones.
That is exactly how Olivia Dufresne felt when Yogi, the family dog, was 12 years old, the typical age in Quebec at which one completes elementary school.
Yogi, a Maltese-Yorkshire terrier-Shih Tzu mix, gets along well with his older sisters Pamela and Olivia Dufresne. Pamela Dufresne told The Dodo, “We adore him and, even though he is not a human, we consider him a full member of our family.” He is our little treasure and our little prince.
Yogi has taken on such a significant role in their lives.
According to Dufresne, “He’s quite intelligent, and he knows many things that many dogs wouldn’t.” “You can talk to him just like you would a person,” The sisters like playing hide-and-seek with Yogi in the afternoons, but even when they’re not having fun, he’s a very caring youngest child always there for them when they need some emotional support.
Dufresne continued, “When we cry, he licks our tears and tries to make us laugh. He puts himself in the way of us when we fight.
“My sister and I have enjoyed imagining different scenarios since we were young people. Since we were little, my sister and I have enjoyed making up stories in which our dog performs human-like actions”, said Dufresne.
They imagined the dog attending school, playing soccer, sneaking across the border, playing video games, and being jailed, “He performed all those things in our vision,” she said.
When Yogi’s sisters started talking about Yogi graduating this year, Olivia decided to turn their epic imaginative adventures into reality.
The entire process required several hours of careful Photoshop work, but it was worth it. Olivia almost pulled off the deception too well as it took her family a while to find the switch on the mantel.
