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I was just wondering if anyone knew for sure whether this was written about Carl's Irish Setter or Samoyed? If it is the Samoyed, I'm assuming it's this one:

(http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/74286453.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1935A6DEC864C2BC5D90E3394243D5552CB)

Okay, I know most people couldn't care less, but I'm just interested ;D

Cool! Thanks for the info Ed :)

Here's Henry Gross' account of the "Shannon" story from his website:

The Story of "Shannon"
When I was twenty-one years old a wonderful girl came into my life by the name of Kathy Reinmann. As if having her in my life as a friend, a wife and a friend again for the next twenty three years, until she died of lung cancer five years ago this coming August, was not enough, she brought along with her into my heart her two year old Irish Setter, Shannon. She was an uncannily human dog whose ability to manipulate her human counterparts cannot be understated. I was touring around the country quite a lot in 1975 promoting an album called HENRY GROSS, the one with the yellow cover on A&M Records. I had the pleasure of doing long strings of dates with a group whose music always inspired me, The Beach Boys. Carl Wilson, arguably the finest solo voice in the group, was warm and welcoming from the very first show I played with them on a freezing cold day at the University of New Hampshire. After getting to know each other we realized we shared a love for much of the same music and a passion for fine vintage guitars. On a break from touring, while I was in Los Angeles, Carl invited me to his house to spend a day talking guitars, cars and rock & roll. While he was preparing lunch his two Alaskan husky dogs reached up on the counter and inhaled our food. I told Carl, while admiring the military perfection of the raid executed by his huskies, that I had an Irish Setter at home named Shannon. He was quite moved as he told me that he had an Irish Setter named Shannon that had been killed only recently when hit by a car. We spent the rest of the day jamming and driving around Carl's world which as a friend and to be honest a Beach Boy's fanatic was a thrill.

I didn't know what you guys were talking about until that last post, and I found it quiet touching.  I'm a bit of an animal lover, so I'm biased, but even if you're not the end of that story is odd and touching at the same time.  I think I'm bit in the dark though with this story, am I missing some background information? 

Yeah sorry about that... :P


What sort of background information do you mean?

I was just reading it the story and I went "wait.. that's not the same dog they're talking about is it?", which made me wonder if I was missing something.

Yeah I have read this before but I have also read people saying that Carl's dog Shannon was a Samoyed, hence my question. Because I thought either Gross could have gotten mixed up (because he had a dog with the same name that was an Irish Setter and because he never met Carl's Shannon, maybe over the years he got confused and thought Carl's dog was an Irish Setter?) OR people just saw the picture I posted before and assumed that that was Shannon. But if Ed is remembering correctly then the song was partly inspired by Carl's Samoyed and not an Irish Setter.

By the way, here is a bit more info: http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2009/01/real-story-behind-henry-gross-hit.html

It all makes sense now, thanks Mikeyj.  Still a very touching story, it's hard to lose an animal.

Henry Gross' memory could certainly be faulty, and I would guess the "Huskies" he refers to in the story were actually samoyeds.   They do look similar.

I'm pretty sure the story of BRIAN having a dog named Shannon and the two of them frolicking in the surf is pure urban legend. 

Brian and the dog ???  :o

After the 9/11 tragedy, there were benefit concerts springing up across the country, and I happened to catch (actually record) one on TV; and Henry Gross was a featured performer. And, before performing Shannon, he gave a fairly long explanation that the song WAS about Carl Wilson's dog, however, I don't remember if he mentioned what kind of dog it was; I'd have to dig out the tape. He didn't mention anything about Shannon being his wife's dog. Love the song though.....