{"id":15603,"date":"2025-11-20T13:55:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T20:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ourays-dexter-the-stand-up-dog-tells-his-story\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:34:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:34:28","slug":"ourays-dexter-the-stand-up-dog-tells-his-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ourays-dexter-the-stand-up-dog-tells-his-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Ouray\u2019s Dexter the Stand Up Dog tells his story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=21cafa65-37e5-521c-b139-0b245d2195be&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1434\" alt=\"Kentee Pasek walks her dog Dexter the famous dog from Ouray on Sept. 30 north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Kentee Pasek walks her dog Dexter the famous dog from Ouray on Sept. 30 north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Dexter, the dog from Ouray who walks on his hind legs, can now add starring in a children\u2019s book to his resume.<\/p>\n<p>The 10-year-old Brittany spaniel\u2019s life is the subject of \u201cDexter: The Stand Up Dog,\u201d which was released Sept. 16. The book, written by Dexter\u2019s mom, Kentee Pasek and Bonnie Kelso (who also illustrated it), is available in both English and Spanish.<\/p>\n<p>But, Pasek said, instead of being able to enjoy the book\u2019s release, Dexter has had a fairly difficult autumn.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yY12kqKDKoU\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>If you missed him at this year\u2019s Durango Cowboy Gathering, it was because he was in Italy having surgery on the elbow of his remaining front leg, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDexter ruined the two adult pins that were fusing that elbow together in the front, and we had to instantly take care of that,\u201d she said. \u201cThe vet here tried to get a lot of the different orthopedic surgeons in the U.S. to take him, and nobody would, because it\u2019s so complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, a surgeon in Milan was able to take him, and they were there for almost two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s doing really well. He still has the cone of shame on,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s walking around still learning how that new elbow works. He\u2019s not so sure yet. He\u2019s a trooper.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=35ab0a96-3c8a-5962-b789-e413a5009bf6&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1440\" height=\"997\" alt=\"Dexter\u2019s new book was released in September. (Courtesy)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Dexter\u2019s new book was released in September. (Courtesy)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Dexter began walking upright after an accident when he was just turning a year old. He escaped from his yard while sniffing a deer trail scent and his front legs were run over by a car. Pasek and her husband brought him to a vet in Montrose where, while everything was fine with him internally, his legs were in pretty rough shape. One was amputated, and the other was a little trickier, ultimately having pins put into the elbow. The Paseks had a custom wheelchair made for him, but he wasn\u2019t having it, and so he began walking upright. And to watch him get around is pretty amazing: He walks for a bit upright and then goes back down on his two (and a half) legs for a rest and then pops back up.<\/p>\n<p>The world came to know about him when a woman traveling through Ouray happened to catch Pasek\u2019s mother walking Dexter in his way. She posted a video of the two to her TikTok account and it blew up. Pasek ended up making an account of her own for Dexter to tell his story, and the rest is history \u2013 he\u2019s been in dog food commercials, on talk shows and now in his book.<\/p>\n<p>Dexter\u2019s story resonates with people because not only is it fascinating to watch him walk, there\u2019s a deeper message to be taken away from him, Pasek said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s relatable because you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, he is resilient. He is persevering, he keeps going,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cNo matter what, Dexter has that little positive walk and is happy to be there in life. And I think sometimes, because as an animal, he just bounced back so fast and so hard, it resonates for us to be like, \u2018I maybe shouldn\u2019t have a bad attitude about this. Or maybe this isn\u2019t as bad. Or if Dexter can do it, I can too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At one point, Pasek said, a retired Navy officer knocked on their door in Ouray. He told them he had had hip surgery but wasn\u2019t doing his physical therapy \u2013 until he saw Dexter.<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-scoreboard\">\n<h4 class=\"scoreboard-title\">For more<\/h4>\n<p>\u201cDexter: The Stand Up Dog,\u201d by Kentee Pasek and Bonnie Kelso (who also illustrated), is available at Maria\u2019s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave. For more information, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/mariasbookshop.com\/book\/9781957655482\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/4pbuhynj<\/a>.For more information about Dexter, visit<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dexterdogouray.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> https:\/\/www.dexterdogouray.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI think Dexter touches on the very human side of us to the point that we\u2019re like, maybe it\u2019s just so deep \u2026 you don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on in other people\u2019s lives. You don\u2019t know emotionally, physically what they\u2019re going through,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd Dexter\u2019s like, \u2018OK, yes, acknowledge that you\u2019re going through this, but keep going.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s what she hopes people take away from the book.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that\u2019s Dexter\u2019s message, period. So the book itself tells about his story, about being injured and then going through all this but still shining, still pushing through it,\u201d Pasek said. \u201cKeep going one step at a time. Don\u2019t take life so complicated, take it one step at a time. That\u2019s really his theme, and it\u2019s been his theme all the way through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em id=\"emphasis-5174c65691e04b32f38087ffaa8e000a\"><a href=\"mailto:katie@durangoherald.com\">katie@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>walks on hind legs stars in new children\u2019s book<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1060,28,1443,1489,994],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts-entertainment","tag-headlines","tag-literature","tag-ouray","tag-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15603"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20954,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15603\/revisions\/20954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15603"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}