He’s pictured wearing a Superman cape and caught in mid-flight. He’s seen enjoying suds in an old-fashioned bathtub wearing a bathing cap. He’s in a moose hat, adorned in a Canada hoodie. He’s shown wearing an apron and holding a rolling pin.
There’s also the one with his head in hair curlers enjoying an early morning mimosa.
He’s starred in a pair of videos, one with him snorking down hand-fed cereal, the other leaping outside in great joy trying to catch falling snowflakes in his mouth.
He is Thor.
A nearly one-year-old Boston terrier whose Vernon master, Lisa Mazurek, takes great delight in dressing up her pooch via costume or Photoshop and she’s putting smiles on thousands of faces via social media.
“He’s really a goofy dog,” laughed Mazurek, a former Morning Star photographer, who is now the official photographer of the Vernon Vipers of the B.C. Hockey League.
“He’s very happy. He’s like a clown 100 per cent, all the time.”
Mazurek and her partner, Garnett, picked up Thor months after losing their family dog.
Thor came from a litter where all the puppies were named after Marvel comic heroes. So, of course, Mazurek has had Thor wearing numerous Marvel costumes for photo sessions.
So how did Thor, a Gemini who, said Mazurek, is “single and ready to mingle,” become a photo and social media sensation with more than 2,000 followers on his Instagram page: @thorthebrownboston?
Well, let’s flashback to Dec. 8, 2018.
Mazurek was working a Vipers game but was also getting set to launch a pet photography business out of her Harwood-area home. On that night, Mazurek’s arm was shattered by an errant puck, putting her out of commission for months.
After recuperating and getting back to the rink, Mazurek was set for Take 2 of the launch when COVID-19 struck.
“I took and posted a picture of Thor and thought, ‘he’s pretty funny,'” Mazurek said. “I should work on making people smile, because, right now, there’s so much bad news out there.”
The pictures with Thor are also therapeutic for Mazurek, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis.
“It gives me a reason to do stuff. It gives me a purpose,” she said, vowing to continue. “I want to do more stuff outside with him.”
Her sessions with Thor last about a minute. When the dog sees the camera and knows there’s treats for him at the end, he eagerly agrees to pose.
While Mazurek does dress the dog up in costume and uses Photoshop for other snaps, Thor’s expressions are all his. And they are fantastic.
Like the photos where his eyes light up when a treat is thrown toward his mouth.
“The key to the pictures is getting it over with quickly,” Mazurek said. “I take a lot of pictures to get one good one. I try to keep Thor interested.”
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