Thursday Thoughts – April 20, 2023 Edition: Dogs Part 1

(PLEASE NOTE that the dog in the photo isn’t the dog about which I wrote here; I didn’t have a digital camera in the 60s or 70s.)

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about dogs. We have 2 of them, of course, and they each old a special place in my heart. But I’ve also had a dozen or so other dogs through my life and each of them do also. So I’m thinking of sharing them with you on Thursdays even though I don’t have photos of them all and #TBT (#ThrowbackThursday) is typically about photos. Anyway, I don’t have a lot of time online to explore all of the cool dog-related content out there but I do follow a lot of other dog lovers on social media, especially my favorite who posts just about every day something cool about dogs…anyway…here we go with my own thoughts and throwbacks.

(The thought also occurs to me that this may end up as a multi-part project…)

I grew up with a passion for dogs. Always loved all animals, read every critter-related book in our small town’s library, but when it came to dogs, I saved my allowance for books I could buy and read over and over again. My dad, who shared the same passion and had some amazing experience, nurtured that and taught me so much! So many of our conversations were about all things canine, and there wasn’t a question I had that he couldn’t answer. He was brilliant on the topic – and could draw from years of real life handling and managing and training; not just from books. From a very young age he and I had a standing date for the AKC dog show at Cobo every year. As a benched show we could go to see ’em all, talk to breeders and handlers, study the breeds and the dogs, and make ever-more-educated guesses on who would end up in that final ring – and who would win! (It was also the only day every year that I actually WANTED to get out of bed way before dawn!) It was over 20 years (24 maybe?) that we continued with that tradition, in fact…but those days are among that absolute best memories of my childhood…

I got my first dog when I was 9. We had a neighbor behind us with a little toy manchester terrier – or minpin – or a mix – named Speedy Gonzales because they’d thought he was a chihuahua – but I won’t go into all of that. Speedy and I became acquainted through a chain-link fence. When his “mom” – Marie – invited me to hop over and visit him I was so excited! Soon I was coming over every day after school to walk Speedy, then it led to bringing him home to visit for a while before I’d drop him back over the fence; he would start watching for me every afternoon at about the time school let out. Then we had some sleepovers, and having a dog sleeping on my bed felt like I’d gone to heaven! He and I were besties. In fact, if Speedy could slip outside, he came straight to our house. My mom would get a call from Marie, “Do you see Speedy yet?” My mom would look outside and every time, he’d be happily trotting down the street, turning into our yard to the front door which my mom was holding open for him – and he’d find me. Finally, my parents conspired with Marie to make it official. Speedy’s boy had grown up and gone off to college. On Christmas morning that year the phone rang twice as we were opening our presents. My dad got up and opened the back door, and Speedy ran in sporting a big red bow and a note…he was mine! I opened more gifts – dog toys, treats, a new collar, bowls…Yeah, that was my best Christmas ever. And Speedy lived another 10 years, dying of congestive heart failure when I was in my first year of college. I will never forget him. His special place in my heart is as my very first dog and the answer to the fervent prayers of my young heart…

I’ve had 13 more dogs since Speedy but I can see now that I can’t do justice to what I learned from each of them, and what their special place in my heart is, in a single post. There will be more to come.