‘She saved my life.’ Miss Betty White, Durham’s Vespa-riding pup, turns heads everywhere

When North Carolina closed down bars and restaurants due to the coronavirus pandemic, longtime Durham bartender David Cunningham felt adrift.

Without his job at West End Billiards, where he spent most nights of the week serving drinks, and rising cases of COVID-19, Cunningham found himself rarely leaving his couch, let alone his house.

He felt alone and thought he had nothing to look forward to — a dark and dangerous combination, he admits.

“Mental health-wise, I wasn’t in a good spot,” said Cunningham, a 43-year-old Ohio native who sports a bushy beard and bald head. “(I was) laying around doing nothing but putting on weight, being sad and miserable. Swallowing my own misery and not doing anything to get out of it.”

But when a friend asked him to dog sit one week, things started to change. He loved the daily walks that got him off the couch and out of the house. He began to think about how much he loved being around dogs during his childhood in Ohio — how things were simpler back then.

The nostalgia stuck with him. He found himself surfing the internet for his favorite breed: collies. Just a few weeks later, he was driving down Interstate 85 to Lexington, N.C., to adopt one.

It was a decision that would eventually turn him into a local celebrity of sorts.

The collie, affectionately named Miss Betty White after the television star, is now 15 months old and drawing attention everywhere she goes.

That’s because Miss Betty White loves to ride on the back of Cunningham’s bright-red Vespa scooter.

It makes for a bizarre sighting around town. People can’t help but stare. Hands immediately thrust into pockets to desperately grab a phone. Videos are shared on Instagram and Snapchat.

A magnet for attention

As they traveled one recent July evening to downtown Durham, Miss Betty White rode inside of a large book bag specially made to hold a dog. Her long tongue flopped in the wind, her paws dangled across Cunningham’s shoulders and her head — sporting both riding goggles and a feathery boa — stuck up high.

Cunningham said Miss Betty White loves the attention. She still has that bit of puppy energy about her, and she’s never shied away from a stranger.

“I mean, I’ll be at the gas station pumping gas,” he said, “and all the sudden she’ll be jerking around, and I’m like, ‘What is wrong with you?’ Then I’ll turn around and it will be someone petting her.”

Miss Betty White is a magnet for that kind of attention. And Cunningham said it has helped him get out of his shell. He hates to just keep her at home, and they’ve developed a habit of going out together — though the re-opening of West End Billiards does keep them apart occasionally now.

“She likes the rides. I like spending time with her,” he said.

You can often find the pair out at the Eno River State Park going for a hike, or at some of Miss Betty White’s favorite places to grab dessert.

“We go to LocoPops, and she’ll get one of those pup pops,” he said. “We go to the Parlor (and) she gets her vegan ice cream.”

Cunningham admits part of the reason he takes her out is because of the smiles she leaves on everyone’s face. He likes to think maybe he and Miss Betty White can provide a momentary reprieve from what’s been a hard year for everybody.

“Look at you guys right now. You’re smiling,” he said. “You’re not thinking of anything that is going on in the world. You’re just looking at her and you’re like, it’s a happy moment.”

But she’s also leaving a smile on Cunningham’s face that he’s having a hard time wiping off these days. He’s one of the many who, during a time when the nation’s mental health spiraled, used the pandemic as a time to get a dog. Dog adoptions and sales soared over the past year, The Washington Post reported.

When asked what would have happened, if he hadn’t decided to adopt her, Cunningham stared directly into Miss Betty White’s eyes and said, “She saved my life 100 percent.”

“I had something to look forward to,” he added. “I lost weight. I started hiking. … I am not as angry as I used to be.”