ON singing "#Baby #Mine" to your #Dog, from #Dumbo

Almost ready to sing to Gizmo

            A New York Times review written by Alexandra Styron of “The Puppy Diaries: Raising a Dog Named Scout” by Jill Abramson, begins, “Let’s be real. It’s hard to keep a straight face writing about puppies.”

           It includes the following, “(Full family disclosure: my husband routinely cradles our 85-pound Labrador in his arms and sings to her, as he did when she was a puppy, the “Baby Mine” song from “Dumbo.”)”

             The song, which got a 1941 Best Song Oscar nomination, appears in a scene in the movie when Dumbo visits his mother, who is confined in a tiny cage.  They touch trunks and mommy sings “Baby Mine,” while the Disney cartoonists pull out all the stops and we see hyena, lion and other mothers caring for their children, as one tear drops down Dumbo’s cheek.  Other tears came down the cheeks of the mothers… and mine.

           Then I looked up the lyrics, which as they say went something like this:

Baby mine, don't you cry

Baby mine, dry your eyes

Rest your head close to my heart

Never to part, baby of mine…

      At Gizmo’s request, we now sing it to him and to each other.  

     “ To err is human, to forgive is canine.”  Anonymous