TulsaPets Magazine November 2022

12 TulsaPets • November / December 2022 The Christmas Biscuit Cavapoo Keeps Life Interesting by Jennie Lloyd | Photos courtesy of Elvis Ripley and Paige Turlington E lvis Ripley dreams of biscuits. Savory Christmas biscuits. The simple fun of saying the word “biscuit.” Owning a dog named Biscuit. Last fall, at about the time when their sweet Cavapoo was born, Elvis said, “I had a dream that I was talking about having a dog named Biscuit.” Paige Turlington, Elvis’ longtime partner, wanted to make his dream a reality. “What if we got a dog?” she asked him. “Well, if we can call it Biscuit, then may- be!” he replied. Neither of them had ever had a dog as an adult. Within a week, Paige connected with a family friend who had a litter of F1b Cavapoos. One newborn puppy was left. Paige called her friend and said, ‘I’m com- ing to see her!’ ” She fell in love with the small gray fluffball who would be called Biscuit. As an F1b Cavapoo, Biscuit is hypoallergenic, gentle, and smart. She has soft, wavy gray fur with a white bib and white-tipped fluffy feet. She has an impressive fountainlike tail of flowing floof. She is now full grown and sprightly, weighing in at 10 pounds. Christmas Treat On Christmas Eve last year, the couple brought home their early gift. Biscuit’s name is a tribute to an ongoing Ripley family joke. Elvis tried for a year to teach his nephew to say “biscuits” as his first word. He also came up with an idea for sa- vory, rosemary-infused Christmas biscuits, which his foodie mom now recreates every holiday season. “So we had two Christmas biscuits last year, the edible biscuits and this Christmas Biscuit,” Paige said, snuggling Biscuit’s charming face with full-of-wonder eyes. Elvis is a talented cinematographer who works with the Bob Dylan Center, among many other notable projects. His father is Steve Ripley, the famous musician who coined the term “Red Dirt” music after his early record label of the same name. Steve was Leon Russell’s longtime en- gineer. He built guitars and tinkered with sound, putting out hits with his band the Tractors in the 1990s. He also played guitar for Bob Dylan. Steve owned the legendary Church Studio in Tulsa for 19 years. The Scientist and the Detective The Ripley family is certainly a talented one, and Elvis picked up many traits from his dad. “I think they’re both kind of mad scien- tists, really,” Paige laughed. “The way they tinker with stuff and research things and know the deepest details of everything…. They know their craft so well.” “I think I get that from my dad, the scientific mind-set,” Elvis said. “The way they experiment and try things out, learning the fundamentals of everything and using that to be better at everything,” Paige explained. “They’re mad scientists. But not so mad — pretty practi- cal, actually.” PETS AND THEIR PEOPLE Elvis Ripley and Paige Turlington enjoy life with their Christmas Biscuit.