Why Dan Cotton?

It was the 1st of January 2000, and our new Great Dane had been born. She was black, beautiful, already named Twiggy, and we were invited to meet her on the third.

Big mistake. Twiggy (right in the pic) was a part of a litter that had probably the ugliest puppy in the world as one of its members. Cotton was mostly white with tiny black spots that made her look like the exploded stuffing of a cotton boll. She was mine from the moment I saw her and there was no way I could leave her behind. So, we took both and brought them home ten weeks later.

Cotton grew into the most beautiful dog I have ever had the privilege of sharing my life with. She lived for eleven and a half years and crossed the rainbow bridge with her big, soft, goofy head resting on my lap. Nothing much makes me cry but I wept, on and off, for a long time following her passing.

At the time, I was completing “Triptych” and I could have published it under my own name but the writer in me became:

Dan E Cotton

It’s my way of preserving the memory of a creature that gave me everything and asked for nothing in return. Vale Cotton.