South End salon owner flooded with handwritten messages after dog’s death

BOSTON, Mass. — A South End salon owner has been flooded with an outpouring of support after the death of his beloved dog.

Kaptin has been a fixture at the corner of Dartmouth and Appleton Streets for the last 14 years.

The English Bulldog spent most of her life resting comfortably on display there in the window of Tips hair salon.

Owner Lawrence Kristopher said he’s always known Kaptin was a popular lady, but is overwhelmed by the more than 250 handwritten notes he’s received.

“I knew she made an impact. I didn’t realize this much,” said Kristopher. “These messages are way more than I would have ever imagined.”

The heartfelt notes about Kaptin now fill up most of the window space at Tips for people passing by to see.

“One is from a woman who claims her health was not good. She would hang at the window for five minutes. She’d look at Kaptin, go home and check her blood pressure, and it always went down,” explained Kristopher.

Some of the messages share memories that date back to when Kaptin was a puppy.

“People would change their route to work just to see her,” he said. “I have kids who say they never missed a day of school because they would stop here to see her every morning.”

Kristopher told Boston 25 News he plans to keep the messages on display for the foreseeable future to brighten people’s day and keep her memory alive.

“She’s brought this neighborhood together, a community, in a time when the world seems upside down,” he added. “It’s been rough, but reading all of this has been amazing.”

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