“Ollie’s always been treated like another one of my parents’ children. We always joke that he’s their favorite,” Alex, Ollie’s sister (who asked that her last name not be included), told The Dodo. “Coincidentally we got Ollie at a similar time that my sister moved away to university, so he really is my parents’ new child. He’s everyone’s favorite family member. Our friends even laugh at us for how obsessed we all are with Ollie — we even go on dog-friendly holidays every year just so we don’t have to leave him behind.”

When Alex graduated college in 2020, her graduation ceremony was unfortunately canceled due to the pandemic, so her parents planned her a graduation at home instead — which actually worked out better anyway because it meant Ollie could be there too. After posing for photos, Alex and her family realized that she and her sister both had graduation photos, but the third child of the family, Ollie, did not.

And since they never want to leave Ollie out of anything they do, they decided to take some.

“We always said he was a professional good boy, so we thought we’d make it official with his own dog-ploma,” Alex said. “He’s a typical retriever who loves to carry things, so he was very pleased with himself when we gave him his own scroll to hold for the photo. After a quick photo with the camera, he got lots of praise as usual. We took the hat off of him, but he didn’t want to give his scroll back.”

The shoot was super fun and silly, but as time went on, Alex sort of forgot about Ollie’s graduation photo — until she came home one day and found it hanging on the wall next to her own.

“I forgot about the photo until my mum and dad had my own graduation photos printed,” Alex said. “They decided that they didn’t want to leave Ollie out and had his photos printed as well without telling me. It gave my sister and I a big laugh when we saw Ollie’s graduation photo on the wall next to ours.”

Ollie is arguably the most valued member of his family, so it only makes sense that his graduation photo be displayed for everyone to see. His parents even printed out extra copies for extended family members, and everyone has gotten such a kick out of it.

“We snuck it into my Nan’s house alongside all of her other grandchildren’s graduation photos,” Alex said. “She thought it was hilarious and she loves it. It’s now her favorite photo and she shows anyone who comes to see her.”

Now, whenever people come over and see Ollie’s graduation photo displayed proudly on the wall, no one is really surprised. They’ve come to know Alex and her family as the people who are obsessed with their dog — and the family wouldn’t have it any other way.

“They’ve seen it all — Ollie’s on our Christmas cards, our clothing, our phone cases … literally everything,” Alex said. “All of our friends and family know to expect this kind of thing from us by now.”

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