curiousKC | What Happened to that Dog Painting On Brush Creek Bridge?

Here at Flatland, our curiousKC team encourages readers to question everything.

From all-but-forgotten Civil War stories, to the funds that it would take to fill Kansas City potholes, we do our best to find the answers.

So when longtime Kansas City resident Liz Wade reached out wanting to know more about a portrait of a dog that once hung on the south end of the Roanoke Parkway bridge over Brush Creek near the Country Club Plaza, it seemed that surely someone would have some information — especially considering the portrait’s position at the high-traffic area, where cars like Wade’s passed and waited at the traffic light day after day.

Unfortunately, to this point, more questions than answers remain.

But don’t worry, Liz, you’re not the only one wondering what happened to the mysterious mutt masterpiece.

Here’s what we know so far about the disappearing portrait. 

Reddit to The Rescue

CuriousKC readers should consider Reddit a useful resource.

While the social news aggregator and discussion website certainly cooks up some strange threads — such as r/BeansInThings — the site with more than 400 million users is a good starting point for the curious.

When multiple neighborhood Facebook groups, associations, Plaza officials, Parks and Recreation and Public Works department personnel claimed to know nothing about the portrait, this post from Reddit user u/Domelamah regarding the “Dachshund Art on the Plaza” has become the most promising lead.

Posted about one year ago, the Reddit user joins Wade in wondering about the origin of the image.

Luckily for us, the post’s 24 commenters offer some clarity.

Runaway Painting

First of all, we know the painting disappeared as early as April 2019.

Like a scene out of a heist flick, a Google Maps link shared on Reddit by u/millerswiller shows the painting missing from the stone wall in the spring of 2019.

That’s where Wade’s daily passenger, a close friend’s son, would remind his driver: “You turn left at the dog bridge.”

How long the artwork hung on the bridge over Brush Creek remains a mystery.

One Reddit source speculates that the portrait was posted on Easter Sunday in 2019. But that guess seems unlikely considering Easter fell on April 21 that year, leaving a relatively small window for the Google Maps truck to make its rounds and capture the empty exhibit.

If the pup’s time in the parkway spotlight was that short, it was certainly memorable.

So who is, or was, this dog?

Parker Posey, Is That you?

While there is speculation as to when the portrait was posted and when it was removed, there is no question that the artwork depicted a good boy — or girl.

There is, however, a debate on whether or not the dog is indeed a dachshund.

Remember the commenter who suggested the painting was posted on Easter Sunday? Well, u/dipLLC also claims the dog isn’t a dachshund at all, but rather a slightly more proportionate mini Australian shepherd.

Whatever the breed, a popular theory in the thread seems to be that the artwork was a memorial to the furry friend.

Commenter u/TarkovskysLevitation offers a possible firsthand account of contact with a source who may have known the painted dog personally:

“I posted this to my Instagram a couple of months ago and somebody responded with the story of it,” they write. “I personally know the people that did it. Said it was in memory of their dog that had departed.”

And while anyone with Wi-Fi knows not everything on the internet is true, this mutt might even have a name.

If the picture was posted on Easter Sunday and is, in fact, a mini Australian shepherd, then there’s a chance the dog’s name was Parker Posey — at least according to the thread’s most recent comment from u/dipLLC.

Unfortunately, Flatland didn’t hear back from any of the original Reddit post’s commenters, including u/dipLLC, who may have known the pup best. 

So if you have any information on the painting, or even recognize the dog named after the “Best In Show” actress, who perhaps once passed Plaza shoppers on city walks, or barked at Brush Creek’s geese after lifting a leg on its favorite bridge, we’d like to hear from you.