August 30, 2008

In Dog We Trust...


When I was a little girl we had a dog named, Ginger. She was the best dog... She looked like Lassie over there but a little smaller.

She would stand at the edge of the yard if someone was approaching and bark her head off, sounding the alarm. Ginger's bark was imposing and, coupled with some very sharp rows of teeth, she was not a dog a stranger would want to mess with. When I was about 6 or so, Ginger was diagnosed with arthritis in her hips. Movement was extremely painful for her. We had no choice but to put her to sleep. It is the only time I remember my father crying. A couple of other dogs came through the house but none were as impressive (for me) as Ginger.

As I became a teen, I turned more towards cats. Punkin was my favorite cat; she wandered into a friend's backyard and stayed. After looking for the owners for a month or so, realized they counldn't keep her. Mom adopted her for my 18th birthday present. She was this big fluffball of orange, black, tan & white who loved sleeping under warm clothes freshly removed from the dryer and thought the water coming from the faucet was a toy for her to bat around. We never had to buy her toys. She preferred the ring from the milk jug or cork from the wine bottle, bouncing and throwing them around for the longest time. She wandered out of our lives the same way she came into them. One day, when she was about 18 years old, she just wandered off. I picture her curling up somewhere & just not waking up again.

Now, once again, I have a dog, Olivia. She wandered into my life also. Heading over to my sister's one day, my mother and I found her in the middle of the road. Her ribs were sticking out of this itty bitty puppy body, she peed and scrunched up from excitement/fear as I called to her. She did this funny left to right, backward/forward walk as she came towards me. Like she was happy & scared at the same time. We named her Olivia because we found her in the middle of Olive Avenue; Bubba came up with her name. That the name is the same as our daughter's favorite tv character {Olivia Benson of Law & Order: SVU} is simply a bonus!





She is part rat terrier, part chihuahua, a little mountain goat, attack/guard dog, clown, acrobat, comedian, part scrounge, doorbell...

4 comments:

  1. Awwwwwwww, so cute. Reminds me a bit of Ellie - she ran up to me straight of the main street.

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  2. That is the cutest dog. (well apart from mine, but I am a bit biased on that).

    That's such a sweet story too.

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  3. Dogs are therapy. I trust in Dog too. ;-)

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  4. when i have a house with a yard (and not a condo) I am SO getting a dog. My mom grew up with a Collie named Molly, by the way. It still makes me laugh

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