January 22, 2015

• Dogs

  When my brother and I were little we had a puppy for about 3 months.  That was all.  After Tom and I had been married a few years and had our first 2 children we decided to get a dog.  One reason was because our daughter was so afraid of any kind of animal.  So we went to the pound (that's what it was called back then) and found a nice calm puppy to adopt.  We named her Katie.  For the first 2 weeks our daughter, who was maybe 3, and her brother, 15 months younger, would not walk on the floor when the dog was in the room. They climbed from the couch to the chairs, and then back again.  Our son wasn't as afraid as his sister, but at that age he copied her.  Finally they got used to her.  Then we had another problem, she and my husband had a personality conflict.  One thing she did that irritated him was to come and find one of us when the telephone rang, and then walk in front of us on the way to the phone while looking back to make sure we were coming. It's a wonder we didn't trip on her.

  

  When we moved to Indiana we rented our house in Calif. and left the dog there. Actually we let a couple of college girls live in it for free in exchange for taking care of the house and dog. (The house was for sale, but hadn't sold yet.) That year we drove to Florida to spend Christmas with my mom and step-dad. While we were there, our neighbors phoned to tell us the girls had left.....what should they do with the dog? I caught my husband in a weak moment, and he agreed to let them put Katie on a plane and fly her to Tampa. You should see the photo I have of our family that Christmas. He was not a happy camper! He and my step-dad drove an hour to Tampa to get her at the airport, and Tampa was foggy so the plane landed in Orlando temporarily. Finally later the same day she landed in Tampa, so they made another trip to get her.
  Then, of course, she had to ride home in the car with us to Indiana. Actually she was a good traveler.
  In case you're wondering what kind of dog she was, the vet told us she was part basset hound and part terrier. The little girl in the picture with me is our 3rd child. The picture was taken in Indiana.

  When we went to Africa we gave her to a family from our church. She was a good dog for them, and they had her for many years. We saw them and her 4 years later when we came home for a 1 year furlough. She must have remembered us, because she was quite friendly with me, but she still didn't like my husband.

  I almost forgot to tell you about her puppies. She had 8 of them, 1 natural, and 7 by C-section at the vet's office. That cost a bunch, which we couldn't afford. I had to write  2 post-dated checks before they'd let me take her home. The pups were cute as puppies usually are. I named the 5 girls Rose, Pansy, Daisy, Petunia and Fern. The 3 boys were Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego. We sold a couple of them, gave away a couple, and took the rest to a place that said they'd find homes for them. I doubt if they did, but I left them anyway. Then my mom sent us some money to get Katie neutered. She said she thought 8 children were enough for any girl. We never did know who the daddy was.

  Katie and Mindy were the best dogs we ever had. Some other time I'll write about Mindy.

  • 10:49 pm
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