By Darragh Doiron
The News staff writer
Meet Jimmy Johnson cuddling Buttercup, Barbara Bush with Sadie in attendance and Zig Ziglar with Fastidious curled around his neck. The artful images are in “Top Dogs and Their Pets.”
David Woo, who is set to appear on “Dr. Phil” on Friday, Dec. 18, is a former resident and Port Arthur News intern. The show will air at 3 p.m. Friday on KFDM-TV Channel 6, cable channel 3. He will sign the book he photographed with RIdhard Michael Pruitt, from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Barnes & Noble, 4155 Dowlen Road in Beaumont.
At the same time, his brother, Rodney Woo, will sign his own book, “The Color of Church,” where he says he establishes a biblical foundation for multiracial ministry, provides a clear picture of the current reality of the relationship among the races in society and churches, and offers practical guidance to help implement multiethnic ministry. He says he writes from experience having helped change his church, Wilcrest Baptist Church in Houston, from an all-Anglo declining congregation in a transitional neighborhood into a multiracial congregation that is now more than 65 percent non-white with more than 44 different countries represented.
David Woo is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist with more than 30 years of experience at The Dallas Morning News. Here’s how he says the book came to be:
“My wife, Suzi, gave me our Basset Hound, Chester, for my birthday. I began taking him to the dog park, and doing some research on people and their pets,” Woo writes. “I learned that there are 139,000 pet owners in the country. I also learned that celebrity magazines were the fastest growing industry in the field. I put the idea together and thought, ‘This is a book.’ I decided to begin by contacting well-known individuals I had photographed during my 33- year career at the newspaper.”
Woo said that what made the project so interesting was the multitude of choices that the subjects made for their pets. Some were closely tied to one animal, while others had an entire household of pets. Some were completely dedicated to rescue and foster care of animals. The common thread was that each and every person was deeply connected to his or her animals, he said.
Some pets were highly trained, and in the case of James Baker’s dog, Josh. Baker was President Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff. The dog would not even step onto the surface where the photo backdrop was set up. He had been taught not to go on that floor surface, Woo said.
ddoiron@panews.com
