Alan de Herrera

Why a Laguna Beach photographer didn’t hesitate to spend $20K on Rio, the dog he bought for $50

The Orange County Register
By Keith Sharon
January 16, 2017

Plans for the night were set. He was going to boil up some pasta and mix in some pesto. He was happy for a quiet night in his hillside Laguna Beach apartment with his dog Rio.

But Rio wasn’t having any of that. Rio wanted to celebrate.

Alan De Herrera, 44, could tell his small cocker/labrador mix was amped. So De Herrera harnessed up the dog, and headed outside. Rio began to pull him down the hill toward Coast Highway. Strange, De Herrera thought, because he doesn’t usually take Rio toward the busy street.

Rio kept pulling. The dog made a right on PCH. De Herrera smiled when he figured it out. Rio stopped in front of the Royal Thai, a dog-friendly restaurant, where the waitresses love him and give him plates of chicken.

Rio pulled De Herrera straight to the table where they usually sit.

“There is something different about this dog,” De Herrera said.

Why Rio wanted – needed – to get out and party that recent January night; that’s a long story. It involves world travel, a devastating medical diagnosis and a deep connection between a dog and his human friend.

Rio has had a tough couple of months.

PHOTOS AROUND THE WORLD

De Herrera was one of the lucky kids who always knew what he wanted to be when he grew up.

“I was always grabbing things, touching things, climbing trees,” he said. “I was always connected to the environment.”

He always wanted to be a photographer. But not just any photographer, one who travels around the world taking pictures of experiences other people will never have.

He grew up in Fullerton, attended Sunny Hills High and Fullerton College. School couldn’t hold his interest.

He helped make a couple music videos, including one for singer Fiona Apple.

Then in 2007, he went to Ecuador to make a documentary film and take still photos following plastic surgeons performing cleft palate operations. The film’s funding fell apart, so the project was never finished.

But De Herrera was hooked.

He has documented humanitarian efforts in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010. And he has revisited Haiti several times since then.

HELPING DOGS

In 2011, De Herrera took an assignment that touched him deeply. He followed U.S. Army veterinarians to a farm in Nicaragua, where he took pictures of them vaccinating pets.

“These people (the villagers and the veterinarians) cared about dogs in such a profound way,” De Herrera said. “These vets were doing incredible work.”

When De Herrera travels, he always takes a container of food for stray dogs. On a trip to Haiti, he found a skinny dog roped to a tree. He removed dozens of tics from the dog, and tried to feed it back to health. But the dog died two days later.

“I can be a sensitive guy,” he said. “Seeing those dogs, all skin and bones, it stuck with me.”

In 2016, he went to Haiti where veterinarians set up a roadside spot to spay and neuter dogs “right there in the dirt,” he said.

Next month, he has a trip planned to meet up with a man in Bolivia, who is taking stray dogs off the street and trying to rehabilitate them and get them adopted.

HIS NAME IS RIO

De Herrera got Rio for $50 in 2008 when he answered an advertisement in the Pennysaver.

“This dog would not leave my side,” he said.

He took Rio to Big Bear, Big Sur and the tidepools in Laguna Beach. He only shops at stores and eats at restaurants that allow Rio in. In 2012, De Herrera moved to Laguna Beach.

“This dog just has an incredible desire to explore,” De Herrera said. “He has a connection with nature … just like me.”

Whenever he went on trips around the globe, he left Rio with his father.

“My dad would tell me, ‘Your dog is really sad. He just mopes around the house,’” De Herrera said.

He set up a video phone account, so he could talk to Rio when he was on the road.

It wasn’t until he came home from his most recent trip that De Herrera noticed something was wrong.

DEVASTATING NEWS

In July, De Herrera noticed Rio dragging his butt on the ground. He took the dog to a local Pet Smart to have his anal gland evacuated, a routine procedure.

That’s when he got the news. Rio had a malignant tumor.

“I was in shock,” he said. “He looked normal.”

He took Rio to the Vetrinary Cancer Group in Tustin.

“He (Rio) is a very sweet, shy guy, but when he sees Alan he really comes to life,” said Dr. David Bommarito, Rio’s radiation oncologist. “It is always difficult to talk about cancer. For a lot of people, their pets are an extension of their family, and it can be hard to hear that they have a disease that may one day end their life.”

The veterinarian outlined the good news and the bad news.

The good news: The tumor was localized.

The bad news: 95 percent of dogs with this tumor die.

De Herrera was confronted with the question that faces all pet owners when their animal has health issues.

“What would you do to save your pet?” De Herrera said.

The other bad news, the surgery and treatment would cost north of $20,000. De Herrera didn’t hesitate. Rio had the surgery last summer.

“Without a doubt, it was worth it,” De Herrera said.

During the first week of January, Rio had a checkup, and was given a clean bill of health. There’s still a chance the cancer comes back, but there’s no evidence of it now.

That was the night Rio pulled De Herrera to Royal Thai to celebrate.

“The doctor is now bringing up the possibility that he is cured,” De Herrera said. “Rio is the best case scenario.”

That’s the kind of scenario a dog wants to be.

Rio’s cancer treatment