Strange But True: My Dog Casts Shadows of Other Animals

Jasper has an unusual talent: channeling his canine creativity into shadows of cats, donkeys and even vacuum cleaners

The first inkling I had of this was a couple years ago when I took a photo of Jasper channeling his inner giraffe.

Jasper and his giraffe shadow.

I was amused, and wrote it off as a fluke—a chance alignment of the right timing, dog placement, and angle of the sun.

But since then, I think my dog has been practicing this unique skill, because he’s gotten good.

Really good.

Dog shadowing is kind of like making shadow puppets on a wall, but with a full-size dog instead of your hand—with our back yard as a canvas.

Take a look at the photos below, all taken within a few minutes of each other, as Jasper went through his dog shadow repertoire:

Cat

Jasper has lots of cat models to study, which is why I think this is one of his best shadows.

Monkey

Here he does a pretty good monkey. The tail really makes it come alive.

Anteater

Look how Jasper captures the rounded back and pointy nose of an anteater.

Donkey

Not just a donkey, but one that is rearing. You can just about hear the “hee haw.” Or maybe that’s Tucker squeaking his ball.

Wildebeest

Jasper has a wide range; he doesn’t limit himself to American animals. Don’t ask me how he learned about wildebeests; maybe he watches Animal Planet when I’m not around?

Vacuum cleaner

Jasper also performs inanimate objects too, like an upright vacuum cleaner, shown here. This is his scariest shadow.

Jasper’s Apprentice

Jasper has taken on Tucker as an apprentice. My fast-paced terrier might not have the patience for it, but I’m glad the two dogs found a shared interest.

Jasper teaches Tucker how to cast creative shadows. I’m not sure what they’re working on here. Cattle?

An additional dog allows Jasper to be even more creative, pushing his artistic boundaries past animals, past objects, to concepts—like punctuation. I like to think the two dogs created the quotation mark below just for me.

Together, Jasper and Tucker create a really cute quotation mark.

What special skills do you pets have?

You may also like:

• Running with the Shadows
• Winter’s Gift of Shadows
• Photo: Casting Shadows
• Photo: Shadows of love
• Text from Cat: A shadow of herself
• Haiku by Cat: Shadow
• Haiku by Cat: Paint

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