Puppy Tales

I just finished Marley & Me by John Grogan (a read I would highly recommend to dog lovers) which got me thinking about the dogs I've had over the years and thought I would record some stories of them. My family has always had pets, either a dog or a cat, but usually both... and more than one of each. The first dog was Muffet. Since I was the intruder, this dog HATED me. According to my mom, Muffet regularly chewed up baby clothes, toys, etc. Sadly, the dog had to go. Here we are (notice my dad's hand holding the dog by the foot for the picture):

Maybe Muffet is the reason I don't like little dogs. Never have... probably never will. No offense to those of you with little dogs but to me, they just aren't dogs. If you can pick up and easily carry your "dog" around, it's not a REAL dog. :P

Next came Rosie. We got Rosie around the time I was 5 I think. She was a Miniature Collie mix with a reddish coat and black mask, she looked like a fox. Unfortunately, I can't find a picture of her in my many photos. Maybe my sister will have one she can send me and I can upload it later. Rosie was such a sweet, loving dog. She is the one that was there through all our childhoods. She was really my mom's dog though, she would follow her around everywhere and rarely would go on a walk without my mom there too.

This is Odie. Isn't he the most adorable thing ever! The summer before I started 8th grade, there was a family that lived in our neighborhood that had a litter of puppies. Unfortunately, they were not nice people and treated the puppies horribly just because they were not pure-bred. The mother was a pure-bred Springer Spaniel who was apparently very attractive to the pure-bred Black Lab that lived across the street because Odie was in her second litter with him. WARNING: the next part of this story is horrible so if you want, just skip ahead. I'm writing it as well so I remember later on for posterity's sake.

The first litter that Odie's mother had, her owner drowned because he didn't want the puppies. And Odie's litter were left outside with a pan of oatmeal for them to eat and one bowl of water for nine puppies. The owner kicked one of the puppies against his garage and killed it just because it crawled across his foot. He also shut the tail of one of the puppies in a door, breaking it and leaving it with a permanently crooked tail. They were only allowed a couple hours a day with their mother.

All of the horrible things the owner did led myself and a couple of other kids (mostly my idea) in the neighborhood to come up with an elaborate rescue mission to save the puppies. Because the owner didn't care about the puppies, kids were constantly taking them and playing with them for the day and then returning them later on. One night, I decided that I wasn't going to bring Odie back. I took my hard earned babysitting money and went to the store. I bought him a collar, leash, and food bowl and took him home. Now I knew there was no way that my parents would let me keep him unless I could sucker my mom into it, so the night I brought him home, I tried to hide him outside until my mom got home. My sister Caitlin and I chained him to the deck and left a bowl of water and food for him and TRIED to go inside. Everytime we'd try to go inside, he'd start crying. Eventually my dad came outside to see what the commotion was and there we were, standing over Odie trying to keep him quiet. I'm pretty sure he rolled his eyes and asked exactly what we thought we were doing. When my mom got home, I cried and spilled out the whole story about how mean the owner was and that we couldn't possibly take him back. My mom of course caved and said that we could keep him for a couple days until we could find another home for him. A few days came and went (with us also stealing 2 more of the puppies and giving them to other people) and we still had Odie. Then my parents said that we could keep him if my dad got transferred... that didn't happen. Then they said we could keep him if I cleaned my room... HAHA NEVER happened! By that point, Odie'd been with us for a couple months and was definitely part of the family.

He was such a goofy dog. When he was a puppy, he would run so fast that his back legs would come up even with his front legs so he would be running sideways. It was quite a sight to see! He would sleep in bed with me, scooting his butt under the covers and putting his head on the pillow. I would ride my bike with him inside my jacket or sweatshirt until he got too big (which didn't take long). Odie's favorite game was to run away from us so that we could chase him, and he would run for blocks! The only way to get him to come back was to run away from him so that he'd chase us and then try and grab him as he ran past us at full speed. Or my mom would have to drive to where he was and trick him into getting in the car for a ride. I loved that dog so much! Even after my family moved to Missouri, leaving me in Arizona, he knew my whistle if I whistled over the phone. He'd start searching for me. He was always excited to see me when I'd go to visit. He was 15 years old when my parents had to put him to sleep this last summer. I'm glad that he's no longer in pain but I do miss him.

Next came Junior. I got Junior the day my parents moved to Missouri. It was the first time I lived on my own and I couldn't imagine being without a dog. He's a really sweet, dumb dog. I lived on a horse ranch - really just a boarding farm for horses). The apartment (aka horrible trailer) had a small yard with a fence around it. The other side of the fence is where people would ride their horses by. Junior's dog house was right up next to the fence and he could jump up on it and see over the fence. So he would sit crouched on the dog house, watching through the slats in the fence, just as a rider would get up near where he was, Junior would jump up barking. He scared more than his fair share of the horses and riders and my landlord finally said that he would have to go if I couldn't keep him off the dog house. He was my bodyguard. When I got him, I was engaged to my ex-husband. Junior did not like him from day one (that really should have been clue one for me). He would stand in front of me when Tim would yell at me which unfortunately led him to get smacked instead of me. The best thing that ever happened for him was myself and Tim getting in an accident on the way to my parents house because we had to leave Junior with them and fly home without him. He now lives happily with my parents in Missouri where he has lots of room to run, horses to chase (even though he's been kicked), skunks to get sprayed by, etc., etc.

Now we come to these two crazy pups! If you've read my blog in the past, you've probably read some stories about them. Kallie is a shepherd-mix pound puppy. Chad and I got her about 2 months before we got married when she was 13 months old (she's nearly 6 now). She has the sweetest disposition and is so smart. I never worry about her around kids. When we first had her, I took her to a park to visit my friend who was nannying two 2 year olds. Of course all the kids at the park wanted to see the puppy. She just laid down and let them crawl all over her, pulling her fur, her ears, sticking their fingers in her face and she didn't move. She loves kids and is now starting to notice Tristan. She's also too smart sometimes. She's quite the escape artist. At one point, we had a doggy door on our back door so she could go in and out as she pleased when we were home. However, we would lock it when we left so she wasn't in the house by herself. She would always figure out a way to slide the locked, plastic guard up and get in the house. When we got rid of the door and would just leave her outside, she figured out how to open the sliding glass door and get in. We currently have the grass part of our yard fenced off so the dogs don't destroy the new grass we planted, and she keeps finding a way under or around the fence to get in the yard. She's Houdini dog!

We got Rocky a year after we were married. She is a Boxer/Rottweiler mix and because of that people think she's scary. Haha she's the farthest thing from scary. She has the worst underbite and her tongue is too long for her mouth so half the time she has at least half an inch of tongue hanging out over her teeth. She loves to cuddle me and always wants to play if we're willing. She's my rollerblading partner and often is exasperated with me because I slow down. I've recently been replaced in her heart as her number one. She now runs to Tristan when she's let in the house instead of to me. She kisses him and checks to make sure he's okay when he cries and if I'm out of the room, she will lay down guarding him until I come back. He thinks she's quite funny and just stares at her and laughs when she's jumping and running in circles. I think they're going to be quite good buddies.

Rocky and Kallie are the best of friends. Or more like sisters... haha because they have their spats. They are inseperable most of the time. If they escape the yard or house and decide to take themselves for a walk, they stay together. Kallie is like a big sister, I swear she gets Rocky to do things to see if she gets in trouble, if she does than Kallie will stay put, if she doesn't than here comes Kallie to join the party. They always each have their own bones but both want just one of them until it's gone and then they fight over the left over one. Kallie will steal the bone from Rocky and then Rocky comes running to me, looks up at me and whines. It's as if she's saying, Mooommmm! She took it! It's not fair, it's mine! After reading Marley & Me, I started thinking about the day when we'll lose one of our puppies. Tristan will lose one of his buddies and our family will be one member short. The best thing about the book though, is that it teaches us to enjoy the present and not worry about the future. I'm fully convinced dogs are furry little angels that we get to spend a few short years with, they love us unconditionally, watch over and guard our families and are always happy to see us. My mom always told us that our pets went to Heaven and I'm going to be very disappointed if they aren't there when I get there. :D