For Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton, dogs have always been part of the family—so many, in fact, that their latest children’s book, Shy, is dedicated to “all the dogs we’ve ever loved (too numerous to mention!).” The 35th book the mother-daughter duo has written together, Shy was inspired by Andrews’s real-life poodle of the same name, who had a habit of singing along as Andrews warmed up her voice during her My Fair Lady years. “She almost went down the scale with her little howling,” Andrews recalls. “I was staggered.”
In the book, out now and illustrated by Eva Byrne, fact gives way to a charming bit of fiction: A timid shelter dog is adopted by an equally shy pianist, only to discover her voice as he practices at home. When he brings her along for a concert at Carnegie Hall, Shy slips out of the dressing room and joins him onstage—to rapturous reviews the next morning (“Canine Cantata Captivates Carnegie,” reads one particularly delightful headline).
Julie Andrews and her poodle Shy in 1960.Photo: Getty Images
For Dogue, Andrews and Walton Hamilton sat down to talk about the real Shy—and the many other dogs who have wandered through their homes, dressing rooms, childhoods, and family life over the years.
Vogue: I’d love to start at the beginning. What are your earliest memories of dogs growing up?
Julie Andrews: I had two corgis, which I loved very much. They were our family dogs and they were very smart and very sweet—one just a little sweeter than the other, but they both were adorable. The elder one would go off in the day and trot down to the village and say hello to neighbors and friends. Then he’d trot back. You’d see him coming along the side road where our house was, and we never worried about him because he always came home.
Emma Walton Hamilton: My first memory was a little toy poodle. She was white with one black ear and her name was Q-Tip. Not long after that, when my mom and my stepdad joined families and our family grew exponentially, suddenly we had three dogs. We had a little Scottie who was Mom’s and mine, and on my stepdad’s side of the family there was an old, huge Harlequin Great Dane.
Andrews: In his childhood, Blake [Edwards, Andrews’s second husband] and his mother used to raise Great Danes, and they were very special Danes. His mother bred them and Blake loved them. They won at Madison Square Garden and all kinds of things.
