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posted by Lisa

David Woo (BJ ’76) with Chester.

On the bookshelf: “Top Dogs and Their Pets” photography by David Woo and Richard Michael Pruitt, with a forward by Diane Rehm. (November 2009, Parapet Press)

Is there anything more revealing than our relationship with our pets? Flip through David Woo’s latest book “Top Dogs”, a collection of photographs of some of America’s “top dogs” with their animal friends (photographed with long-time collaborator Richard Micheal Pruitt), and the truth is clear. Our four-footed (and sometimes no-footed) friends rule our world.

Woo, a life-long pet lover, spent the past four years criss-crossing the country photographing some of America’s best known sports, entertainment, political and business figures (91 in all), many of them UT alumni. Part of the book’s proceeds will benefit the Cesar and Illusion Milan Foundation, which provides funding throughout the US for pet shelter and rescue groups, free or low-cost spay/neuter programs, and educational programs for children based on pet awareness.

“I knew a foundation like this would be the best beneficiary of the book,” Woo says, “I wanted to take the love people emanate for their pets and use it to help animals across the country.”

Woo photographed many UT luminaries, including Mack Brown, pictured with his cavalier King Charles spaniels, Crocket and Charlie.

(I know what you’re thinking – he does look just like his dogs!) See more portraits of some very special UT people after the jump (you know you want to look).

Robert Decherd, the Chairman & CEO of A.H. Belo, with his dog Charlie. While Robert is a graduate of Harvard (where he was an editor of the Crimson,) we consider him one of us. The Belo Foundation, along with the Moroney family and the Decherd family, was instrumental in making the new Belo Center for New Media possible.

Bob “Daddy-O” Wade (BFA ’66) and his lizard Lone Star prove that true pet love doesn’t have to involve fur.

Owen Wilson, actor and former UT english major (come back and graduate!), with his best friend, Blue Heeler Garcia.

Look for more photos in this month’s issue of Alcalde.

David Woo has spent more than 33 years as a photojournalist with the Dallas Morning News and is a two-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist. His photographs have been published in national and international magazines including Life, Time, Newsweek, Parade Magzine, People, Sports Illustrated, GQ, Vanity Fair, Esquire and Texas Monthly. He previously collaborated with Richard Michael Pruitt on the much praised coffee table book, Texas Women, published in 1984. He is represented by Corbis Photo Agency in New York City.

Alumni -do you have portraits of yourself with your favorite animal? Send them in – we’ll create a alumni/pet photo gallery.