Downtown in a bookshop covered in yellow, Yellow Dog Bookshop owner Joe Chevalier holds back tears as he describes the yellow dog the store is named after. Scout, the store’s namesake, passed away Aug. 6 after her battle with a genetic condition called degenerative myelopathy in which the nerves of the spine degrade. Eventually, dogs with this condition are no longer able to control their legs.

“We had about two weeks after she got diagnosed before it got too bad to go on,” Chevalier said. “For some dogs, it apparently takes months. We read stories online where people had adapted to their dog with wobbly legs. They seemed to have a lot more time to deal with it. We did the best we could.”

Chevalier and his wife and co-owner Kelsey Hammond adopted Scout in March of 2007.

“She was our tie to Columbia because we got her when we felt like we were settled in,” Chevalier said. “She just gave us the sense that we belonged here. Scout was a wonderful dog.”

The couple recalled the life-changing moment when they made the decision to buy the bookstore back in 2013. According to Chevalier, the previous bookstore was going to close unless they found a buyer within the following month.

“‘My wife and I thought, ‘That could be us,’” Chevalier said. “We scrambled to get funding to buy it, figured out how it would work and how it would impact our lives, and we did it. We really didn’t want to see Columbia without a bookstore. This was our best chance to have a bookstore. This was our time; the universe was speaking to us.”

After making the purchase, however, they struggled with a name and logo for the store until they looked over at Scout curled up in the corner. That’s when they envisioned it — a dog lying on the books. The “perfect” logo, according to Chevalier, that would eventually make the store a unique spot in downtown Columbia.

Hammond, who is also a photographer and took many of the photographs that adorn Yellow Dog Bookshop, was able to capture so much of Scout’s mellow personality through photographs.

“Scout was a good subject because she sat very still and was able to look bored easily… so basically she was the high fashion model of dogs,” Hammond said. “She very much inspired us to keep the shop friendly, open and happy, just like she was.”

The passing of Scout has not been easy for the family. The yellow dog that touched a family and a town’s lives may have passed on, but her memory still lives in “the little used bookshop that could”.

“I’ve had lots of dogs in my lifetime and this is part of the joy of having them in your life,” Hammond said. “When pets pass on, you’ve been changed forever by their genuine happiness and unconditional love. Coming home just isn’t the same without seeing her at the top of the stairs waiting for me.”

_Edited by Alexandra Sharp | asharp@themaneater.com_