John Aycoth gets the same question everywhere he goes with Arco and Rossi: “What kind of dogs are those?”

John owns two Bracco Italiano Pointers, a rare breed with a loyal group of owners in the United States. When he adopted his first Bracco Italiano in 2003, there were only three breeders in the country for this type dog. He had to fly to Iowa to pick up his puppy, one of a litter of nine.

He named the pup Arco, who, for four years, lived contently being the only dog in John’s life. Then John got a call from the same breeder letting him know Arco’s parents were having another litter. Some time later he got another phone call, this time at 3 a.m. saying, “Your dog’s here.”

That puppy was named Rossi. Arco was not happy to have someone to share the spotlight, but the dogs have grown inseparable in the three years they have been together.

And yet, John says, they have opposite personalities. If Arco were a human, John says he would be the perfect kid. You would walk into his bedroom and probably find him reading a book. Meanwhile, Rossi would be peeling off on a motorcycle with two women hanging off of each arm.

Still, they play together all day long and John feels Rossi is keeping Arco young.

John moved into an apartment in Alexandria in January and it is the first time either dog has lived without easy access to a backyard. So the dogs do a lot of their playing at the Simpson Stadium Dog Park.

When I visited John and his dogs at the park, he was tossing a tennis ball that Arco was happily retrieving. As we got into our conversation about his dogs, John took a break from throwing. After a few minutes I looked over and saw Arco standing motionless, hunched over with his nose pointing at the tennis ball.

“He won’t move until I throw the ball,” John said.

And sure enough, Arco stood there while we talked. Eventually John picked up the ball and tossed it again and Arco happily went back to retrieving.