It’s incredible how a dog can change a person’s life. One of the most striking examples of such transformation is the story of Englishman John Dolan, who was a bum, a thief and a drug addict, and became a respectable citizen without bad habits and a famous artist. John probably would have died on the street had he not been saved by a puppy, whose name was George. But first things first.
John Dolan is our contemporary. He was born in the summer of 1971 in London and still lives there. Dolan’s childhood was a happy one. His parents Jerry and Dot spoiled the boy, he was the youngest in the family, his two brothers and two sisters were almost adults.
Jerry worked as a garbage man and Dot as a janitor, and they lived in a municipal apartment near St. Paul’s Cathedral. All was well, but at the age of ten, John’s life changed dramatically: he learned a family secret. It turned out that Dot and Jerry were actually his grandparents, and John’s real mother turned out to be their daughter Marilyn, whom he had previously thought was his older sister.
This discovery turned the child’s usual world upside down. He became rude to adults, did poorly in school, and bullied. He did not get along with his peers and teachers. The only class he liked was drawing. John had talent, but no one bothered to develop it.
How the kid went down a crooked path.
In high school, John became a petty thief and went to jail, after which his family abandoned him. After serving six months, the boy became homeless because his relatives flatly refused to see him. After Dot’s grandmother died, the boy lived in the house with Jerry and took care of the old man, but it did not last long. In 1997, after Jerry’s death, he found himself on the street again because he had no money to pay for housing. His family refused to have any contact with him, and he was all alone with his troubles.
He went back to prison for theft and seemed to have no more prospects. By 2009, he had 300 convictions and 30 time served (making a total of about 12 years), and it seemed that the man had no prospects. Suddenly, however, everything changed.
How a dog changed Dolan’s life
In 2009, luck finally smiled on Dolan. First, he got a place in the municipal apartment, and secondly, a small Staffordshire bull terrier puppy, whose name was George, came into his life.The dog was given to John by a married couple, who also slept on the street. Earlier they had traded the puppy from another homeless man for a bottle of alcohol, but soon he became a problem for them – they found a house, but no animals were allowed there. That’s how John got the dog.
At first, John doubted he could raise the dog. He wasn’t used to taking care of anyone else, and it seemed very difficult for him. John could easily go to bed hungry, but he couldn’t let his new friend go hungry. Cakes from the garbage can weren’t a good lunch for a puppy either, and John began looking for a way to feed his pet. Stealing food was not an option, because the guy could have gone to jail, and then he would never see George again.
At first John started to beg, but then he had a better idea: he began to paint portraits of George and sell them. “That puppy was like a baby, I felt like I had to take care of him,” John later told reporters. The drawings proved interesting enough that soon there was talk of John as a street artist. He was lucky again: the director of a local art gallery invited him, along with other street artists, to participate in the creation of several works on the theme of urban landscapes. These works were later sold for £50,000 and John finally had money.
His paintings were noticed and he received a new commission to illustrate a book and then a solo exhibition. His creative exhibitions in 2013 and 2014 were a great success and he became a well-known artist. His sketches now cost $7,000, not a few cents. as before
Little by little, John got back on his feet. He visited a doctor, got rid of bad habits and joined a gym. His relationship with his family improved noticeably; at least they talked to each other from time to time. He was no longer homeless, all thanks to George. The man later wrote a book, John and George: The Dog That Changed My Life, in which he admitted that he owed his dog everything, both his career and his new life.
Despite his fame, John hasn’t changed. He still sits on the streets of London and paints, and a rather aged George keeps him company.