You may have wondered about the dog that has been featured as our Mighty Uke Day 14 mascot. Here’s the amazing, heartwarming, (and maybe just a bit fabricated) story of Frets, the dog that plays ukulele . . .

Once upon a time, there was a dog named Frets. What kind of name is Frets for a dog, you might ask; why not Fido, Spot, Rover, or even Jack – being he was a cute Jack Russell Terrier. Well, his person played guitar and named him Frets, because naming him Strings or Nut just didn’t sound right. Plus, Frets was a good name because he would often worry about all the poor dogs and cats that didn’t have a home and would fret about what he could do to help.

His person’s guitar playing always made Frets and happy and gave him an idea; what if I could play music for the animals to make them feel better and maybe they’d find their own special person? When his person was at work, Frets found their guitar and tried to play it, but it was just too big for the little JRT. Sniffing around, he found what looked like a small guitar and it only had four strings; a perfect fit for his paws.

He strummed the strings, but it made an awful sound that caused the other dogs in the neighborhood to bark furiously. “This will not make anyone happy” Frets thought, so he searched on his person’s computer (Jack Russells are very smart and resourceful!) to find our more about the instrument and discovered it was called a ukulele and came from Hawaii. He learned that to make it sound good, you had to tune the strings to “my dog has fleas”, which he didn’t particularly like for obvious reasons, but decided to gave it a try. WOW, it sounded nice and it made him so happy!

Frets quickly learned a few chords and was able to play songs like “Hound Dog”, “How Much is the Doggie in the Window”, and rocked out to Iggy Pop’s “I Just Want to Be Your Dog”. He sang about a dog named Boo, puppy love, and rapped with some pooch named Snoop. He was ready to go out and spread the aloha spirit of the uke to help his friends, so he bought a JRT-sized Hawaiian shirt and was ready to hit the stage. But where to play, he wondered?

Just then, he saw a poster advertising “Mighty Uke Day”; a celebration of his favorite instrument. They had an open mic where anyone could get up and play, and Frets thought this was the way to let everyone know about the poor animals that didn’t have homes. He wanted to make sure that he was ready to play his best, so he practiced every day for the next few weeks.

On Mighty Uke Day; Frets put on his Hawaiian shirt, tuned up his ukulele, and his person drove him to the festival. There were a lot of people listening to the performers, and Frets was a little nervous. His person told him “you’re the best dog ever” and that gave Frets the confidence to get up and play. The crowd had never seen a dog play ukulele before, and even though he made a mistake or two, no one cared – they howled in delight and gave Frets a standing ovation! When he finished, he told them about his idea to help the animals and people came up to donate and some even volunteered to be foster parents.

Frets was so happy and his person was very proud of him. On their way home, they swung by the ice cream store where Frets got a special “pup cup” for all his hard work. Today, you can still find Frets playing across the country to help raise money and awareness about the plight of his less-fortunate four-legged friends. (You may even see him at Mighty Uke Day this year . . . ) He asks you all to please take a moment to donate to your local animal charity or better yet, adopt or foster a dog or cat that needs a home. The more you express the aloha spirit of love and compassion for those around you, the more it comes back to you. (Mid-Michigan animal rescues include the Capital Area Humane Society, Constellation Cat Cafe, New Hope Pet Rescue, Saved by Zade, and others.)