Jake the Wonderdog. Bourbon. Mooloo. Hercules. 15 dogs in all, and all of them bikers. This is no Hell's Angel bike gang; these are sidecar dogs. Sit Stay Ride: The Story of America's Sidecar Dogs tells the story of, well, right seat dogs — dogs who ride in sidecars — and their humans.
WMNF-88.5 FM will host the Florida premiere of the heartwarming and surprisingly well-crafted doc (or so say some critics) at the Tampa Pitcher Show this Tuesday. Admission to the film is $10. Proceeds go to WMNF.
You would think a movie with so many motorcycles in it would be about motorcycles, or even bikers, but it's not. Not really. Sure, it's sort of about bikers or, more accurately, people who ride motorcycles. Don't be shocked if, after watching the super-cool bikes (BMWs and Urals and Harleys), you find yourself yearning for a bike. If that happens, though, you may also want a sidecar and a dog to go with it.
Because that lies at the core of Sit Stay Ride — combining the freedom of a bike with the European idea that we bring our dogs with us, involve them in our lives. Participative dogging, if you will.
"I'm willing to take the extra steps to have him with me. I'd rather have him with me than have him at home," one rider says, a sentiment echoed by the other 17 riders who wouldn't dream of firing up the bike without having their dogs next to them.
The propensity to put their dogs in sidecars and take them riding weaves a common thread through the lives of these 18 men and women, who hail from all walks of life, from the romance novelist to the man who wears a wolf cape, buckskins and mask. Some of the dogs wear Doggles, while others go au naturale; most of their human companions talk about safety and decisions they make to keep their dogs safe.
Perhaps the most poignant of all these stories is that of J.D. Whittaker and his dog, Hercules. Whittaker painted his trunk lid in homage to Lance Corporal Colton Rusk and tells people they can photograph his dog if they photograph the words painted on his trunk as well. A sniper assassinated Rusk but not his dog, who was an explosive detection dog; Eli is the second dog the Marines have discharged to a private family. According to the U.S. Marines, after Rusk was shot, Eli lay on top of him to protect him.
Whittaker, who is the first in his family to serve in the military since the Civil War, wanted to honor someone in the military and picked Rusk. His dream, he says, is that Hercules can meet Eli.
Like the other humans in his film, he treats the responsibility of having a sidecar dog with respect.
"He trusts me absolutely. Of course, I try to honor that by being absolutely trustworthy," Whitaker says of Hercules.
The filmmakers have pledged to donate 25 percent of Sit Stay Ride: The Story of America's Sidecar Dogs' proceeds to animal rescue organizations.
Eric and Geneva Ristau co-directed not only a touching film, but a visually stunning one. They braid together three narratives: Sidecar dogs, rescue dogs and the natural environment through which sidecar dogs (and humans) ride.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2015.