The dogs in my life

I have had several dogs in my life. I liked them ok when I was young. The first dog I remember is Tippy, a cocker spaniel we had. I remember coming home from my Grandmother's in Pennsylvania to find Tippy frozen to death in her doghouse. Obviously there was probably something else wrong that caused his (her?) death first. All I know is, I wouldn't leave a dog outside for days, with just a neighbor checking on it. But back then, we did.

We had a variety of other dogs growing up. One was named Krypto. Krypto was some kind of mutt. My brother, who was a superman fan, named the dog after Kryptonite, the only thing in the world that can rob Superman of his amazing powers!

The two most memorable dogs are King & Nanny. King was a huge german shepard owned by our neighbors. He was always tied up, and he barked & barked & barked. If you walked by him, he would try to make a snack out of your leg! The neighbors warned us kids to stay away from King! He was tied up right outside of my window. I had nightmares for years of King crashing through my bedroom wall and tearing me to pieces. King almost ruined it for me & dogs! I never really liked them until I got older and had my own.

Nanny is a poodle that my family had for years. She barked alot, also. We lived across the street from a field, and beyond the field is a creek. Nanny would start barking like crazy. I would look out the window- I didn't see anything. What the heck was she barking at. Squinting my eyes, I barely notice the tiny (from that distance!) figure walking down by the creek.

Nanny had fantastic senses. She was an ok dog, but sometimes she wasn't always on my side. One day, my brother and I were messing around on the couch. My brother was pretending to beat me up and I was yelling, "Help, Nanny! Get him!" Nanny proceeded to come over & bite my foot! Duh!

As an adult, I first had Leo, another mutt. Leo was a crazy dog, who "fell in love" with my son's stuffed animals. The vet assured us this behavior would stop when he was neutered. It didn't. We ended up moving across the country and gave the dog to the relative of a trusted friend. Years later, we got Goldberg. Goldberg was probably the best dog in the world. I had a home daycare. For a while, I babysat a severly handicapped boy. This boy would come in, lay dog next to Goldberg, and start chewing his tail! Goldberg let him. In fact, if the boy didn't lay next to him, Goldberg got up and went to him! He sensed the boys problems and his love for the dog. Goldberg was well loved & a faithful dog for 8 years. Then he became ill with either Cancer or a heart condition. I eventually had to have him put to sleep. I am a pretty tough cookie, and thought I would be alright, so I went alone on the day of the euthenization. Bad, Bad mistake. When I handed him over to the vets assistant, I cried like a baby! I was blubbering all the way home!

Several months later, I was diagnosed with Cancer. I had a tumor in my kidney, which required
surgery and about 12 weeks of limited activity. I figured this would be a good time to get another dog. We went to a local shelter, and adopted a sheltie named Thunder. Thunder actually picked us! Thunders past is somewhat unknown. He has a lot of fears, one being my boyfriend, Ron. Thunder would bark & bark every time he saw Ron. Ron stated that Thunder wasn't a real dog, just an ankle biter! Thunder came close to breaking us up!

Just before my surgery, I had an overnight event with my Girl Scout troop. believe it or not, Ron awoke to find Thunder sleeping with him! I told Ron I think Thunder WANTS to like him, but he's scared! I felt if we got a "real" dog, a "Ron" dog, thunder would get jealous of the attention Ron gave the new dog. Ron wasn't liking the idea of a new dog.

About a month ago, my daughter started helping out at one of the foster homes the shelter has. We fell in love with a balck & white black lab/boxer mix. We adopted him & gave it to Ron.

I am happy to say he loved the new dog, whom we ended up naming Rocky. Thunder & Rocky have an absolute blast together, frolicking and such. Thunder is also starting to like Ron.

Why doesn't Ron realize that I am always right?

Later!