Mysterious Unconventional Statue Caught The Eye Of A Woman Passerby Who Digs Out The Amazing Story Behind It
On a walk through Boston, Alice Fay spotted something that stopped her in her tracks. She had passed the tree-lined stretch on Commonwealth Avenue many times before, but this time a bronze dog statue seemed to be peeking out from a stone fence.
Fay was on the phone with her sister when she noticed it, and the tiny surprise was enough to make her turn back for a closer look. What she found was a life-sized Labrador with a tennis ball, and a story that made the unusual display even more memorable.
The statue looked playful at first glance, but the reason behind it turned out to be even sweeter.
It was a life-sized statue of a Labrador who looks like he is searching for his lost tennis ball.
From the look of it, the statue appears to be some sort of memorial for someone's pet. Fay took pictures of it, trying not to cry.
Since she didn't know the actual story behind the statue, she was intrigued to find it out. So, she posted the pictures she had taken earlier on her Facebook.
“I wanted to go knock on the door, but I thought it would be weird,” Fay said. Upon further inquiry, it was revealed that Anne Lovett and Steve Woodsum are the owners of that statue, and they modeled it after Piper, their black Labrador.
We wanted to add just something to our front yard.
That small idea turned into a much more charming detail than anyone expected.
This is also like the dog who dug a hole by a gravestone, turned out she was searching for puppies.
"We wanted to add just something to our front yard," Lovett said.
"Something that would be a little bit unique and visually interesting for people coming by. Something, sort of, like a little surprise." The couple commissioned the services of a sculptor named Jim Sardonis in 2006.
They asked him to create a life-sized statue of their dog Piper to be placed in their front garden. The sculptor immediately resonated with the idea when he was greeted by Piper peeking through the fence.
He decided that this best described Piper's personality and also added an element of surprise. “I went down to take photos of the dog, and we went out into this little front yard. The first thing the dog did was put her head through the railing,” Sardonis shared.
Fay breathed a sigh of relief when she learned that the statue is a tribute and not a memorial for Piper.
It turned out to be a sweet tribute after all.
Before you decide why Fay’s statue felt so personal, read about a dog missing for six years found in the woods, but her family refused to take her back.
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