The man on the couch is Howard. He’s the namesake Howard behind The Howard 22, the group of 22 starving horses he stepped up to save in Eastern Oregon earlier this year. And that’s Scooby on the carpet. Two old friends together on a Friday afternoon. Look closely and you’ll see that Howard is petting Scooby with two hands. Meaning that he has no open hands to answer the phone or review email or read a pressing document.

The phone calls…they wait. The email…it waits. The tall stack of important documents on his desk…it waits. It all waits as Howard makes sure that Scooby gets some really good pets. Some soft belly rubs. Some gentle neck scratches. Everything else waits because in this single moment in time all that matters is this meeting between Howard and Scooby.

And when Howard finally stops, Scooby just lays there. Knowing that if he doesn’t move, maybe Howard’s hands will find him again. And they did. Over and over and over again. But finally, when Howard stopped for the last time, Scooby sat up and tried to climb onto Howard’s lap. Remember that he’s almost 19 1/2 years old…yet he’s climbing like a Mountain Goat. Because he knew that Howard had a pocketful of treats waiting just for him. And they shared those treats together. Two old friends. Two at a time.

What you don’t know is that Howard has a business to run. Lots of folks hoping for a moment of his time every single day. Yet here he is, hanging with Scooby. And what you can’t see in this photo is how connected these two really are. It’s as if they’ve known each other forever. They were talking together. They were laughing together. They were smiling together. Exactly as old friends should spend their Friday afternoons.

Howard and Scooby are two of the most kind and gentle souls you could ever have the pleasure of meeting. And I love them both.

My name is Larry Chusid and I founded The Pongo Fund. I have the best job in the world. And this is why I Pongo.