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Friday, August 9, 2013

DOGS IN MY LIFE


DOGS IN MY LIFE
Minnie

All dog pictures are "Stunt Dogs"
 

Part of my reason for writing this blog is to leave behind (when the time comes) a little bit of me for family and friends.  A little bit of me has to include the dogs in my life.

Mrs. C is not a dog lover; she is not a hater either, but not a dog lover.  She could hold a Labrador puppy and put it down without a single urge to take it home.  One more example of how little we have in common.  I do have to concur however, that at my age  I am not willing to be tied down by a cute little fur ball; tempted, but not willing.  I have been owned by my last dog.

The first dog in my life was Susie, a cocker spaniel.  We moved across country to California when I was five and had to leave Susie with a farmer.  We didn’t really have to leave Susie, it seems my mom was not a big fan of canines and thought it too much trouble to bring Susie across country.

The next dog we had was a Boxer named Vickie.  I loved Vickie.  She played catch and fetch and we had a nice bond.  Vickie did not like older men.  She used to bite them.  She bit my father.  Vickie spent the rest of her life on a farm.
Vickie
 

Sam was a Beagle.  Who would not love a Beagle.  Sam was a wonderful dog…except…Sam ran at every chance.  Leave the door open and Sam was gone.  There were three boys in my family.  We left the door open a lot.  Sam was gone, following his nose, a lot.  He always returned…except…one day we got a call to pick him up.  He was hit by a car and was hurt.  He recovered, but was incontinent.  The farmer got another dog.
Sam
 

Thank God for farmers.

I did not have another dog until after my first marriage.  I fell in love with a puppy, a mutt (actually an American Black and Tan) named Amos and took him home.  My wife shared the same love for dogs as did my mom.  Amos became an outside dog.  Still he was a good boy except he also ran…not that I blame him.  He would only return to me if I picked him up in my Volkswagen Bug.  Amos got Lyme’s disease at 15 years old and as a grown up I learned the real truth about dogs and farmers.
Amos
 

Some years later, Amos was replaced with Minnie, a Black Lab.  They say you only get one great dog in your life (OK, I say it) and Minnie was my great dog.  She did not run away, she played fetch, was smart and everyone loved Minnie.  Her best friend was Maggie, a Golden Retriever, Frog’s one great dog.  We had Minnie for 14 years until she met the farmer via cancer.

Winnie, was/is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi.  She came close to being the great dog that Minnie was.  I lost Winnie in the divorce.  The dog follows child custody.  That is it for me and dogs.
Winnie
 

I have had Granddogs.

There was my son Mike’s Rottweiler,Teocalli, who I only knew through pictures…beautiful dog.  My daughter’s Springer Spaniel, Chester, a real sweetie.  Both are now on the farm.  Currently there is Buddy, a…were not really sure, probably a Cocker, but he is a good boy.
Chester
Teo
   
 

Honorable mentions go to Ace, another Corgi and sometimes member of Matt’s family, the aforementioned Maggie, my brother Jim’s several Cockers particularly Paddington, Bogy, brother Chris’ cocker and Buster a friends Cocker who only recently was sent to the farm to romp with all the others.
Paddington
Maggie
  
 
Bogie
 
I miss them all, and expect to see them someday when I visit that farm.      

9 comments:

  1. Great post Cranky. I'm a huge dog lover myself, and have had some great ones. I really hate that the life spans of dogs and their owners don't coincide. It just kills me to have to put down...er...take one of my friends to the farmer when I finally have to admit it's the most humane thing for them.

    Knowing they will all be waiting for me someday is a nice thought.

    S

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  2. It took me a REALLLLY long time to realize that there never really was a "farm" Many of my beloved dogs went there via mom... We have our Lulu English Bully now, but no dog could EVER replace my Sasha... My beloved Siberian Husky who to this day, is in a special box in my room. She was the best!

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  3. The best dog EVER was my daughter & son-in-law's dog, Fio (short for Fiorina, "little flower" in Italian)!! She's playing with your dogs on that farm now.

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  4. i hope to never have to live without a dog - at least until i have to sit in a retirement facility until i die.

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  5. Great post. We've only had five dogs over the years and two only lasted a few days. Ginger (clever name for a dog, right) lasted twelve years. Our last was a Welsh Pembroke Corgi named Ellie. Our son once brought a girlfriend home from college. I don't think she was too smart because she looked at Ellie and said, "That's the biggest hamster I've ever seen!"

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  6. thanks so much for stopping by my place and offering both a prayer for me and the song suggestion, which TOTALLY cracked me up. glad to have a new reader.

    though i am not a great dog lover due to allergies i do appreciate that they can be wonderful companions. looks like a great set of pooches here. thanks for sharing some sweet memories of special dogs.

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  7. It appears you've raised several dog lovers, and that's second best.

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  8. We had three different dogs when I was growing up. The first one, a beautiful but high-strung Pomeranian was hit by a car and killed. It was one of the very few times I ever saw my father cry. The second and third did not fare so well with my Mom, and both ended up going to, coincidentally, a farm. I thought that story smelled from the very beginning, especially when they couldn't identify the farm and we couldn't go and visit. It is one of the reasons that I never lied to my children while they were growing up, we handled all the truths head on as best we could, and they turned out pretty darn good in spite of it! People often forget that divorces also mean gaining or losing custody of the shared furkids. It's hard on them and it's hard on us too! I Absolutely believe that we will meet again on the farm though, don't ever try to tell me God's critters don't have little souls! I think you should adopt a cat!!

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  9. I'm on my 8th dog and 7th cat. They have all come from the pound, or found us after some miscreant dropped them off "in the country." My farm is not THE FARM.

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