The first dog I remember was a beautiful Irish Setter named...you guessed it...Rusty. This photo shows Rusty with my brother, Roger, when he was just a little guy...about 57 years ago. Of course, this was before we did color photos, so you can't see Rusty's gorgeous red coat, but you can imagine the color.
Roger and Rusty
The second dog I remember was an amazing English Border Collie named Bullet. I think my dad named him that because he was so fast!
Bullet as a puppy, taken in December 1962.
There were many stories about Bullet, like the times he took Angel, our German Shepherd, out in the woods when she was a little puppy, and left her, thinking she was gone for good. Angel would come home a day or so later, tired, bedraggled, and starving, but wagging her tail. You could almost see Bullet sigh and think, "good grief, is that dog going to come back every time!?"
Angel, March 1964 By this time, she was too big for Bullet to lose!
Bullet also learned to climb out of the fence - not jump it - but climb, putting his back against the corner fence post and shinnying up the fence, putting his feet in the links of the fence. We all worried that he would get his collar caught on the fence, but he never did.
We started having trouble with Bullet chasing cars, so my dad took him to a local farmer, thinking it would give him more space to run. Bullet came home twice before he finally got the idea that he was to stay at the farm. A short time later, the farmer called us and asked us to come watch Bullet at the end of the day. He was herding the chickens - the only animals the farmer had! The chickens didn't really want to be herded, but Bullet was determined!
After we moved to the city, we had a Cocker Spaniel we named Prissy, because she wagged her entire back end when she wagged her tail. In this photo, with my Dad, brother and several cousins at the lake, I am holding Prissy. My pet rabbit used to terrorize her, smacking her on the nose.
There were a few other dogs in my life, another Irish Setter, a pair of Dalmations, another German Shepherd...but the last one I will write about is my current dog, a Bichon Frise named Sweetie. When we first got her, we debated about a name for a while. We took her camping with us the day after we got her and a campground neighbor said we should name her "Sweet Spirit" because she was such a sweet dog. The name sounded like a fit, and Sweet Spirit she became. That is, until we arrived home and showed her to our second oldest grandson, Eric. He was 3 years old at the time, and he immediately called her "Sweetie Dog". That is the name she still has...our Sweetie Dog travels with us everywhere she can. Here she is on our boat, enjoying the sunshine! She is a great traveler and a wonderful companion.
Sweetie checking for Gators in South Carolina!
So there you have it - 5 dogs in my life. Rusty, Bullet, Angel, Prissy and Sweetie Dog. They were all precious in their own way, and all memorable. Bullet, however, sparks the strongest memories...he was an amazing dog!
9 comments:
Loved looking at these pictures and hearing about your dogs. They really claim special places in your heart, don't they? (I couldn't remember 5 dogs that I had...but if Mama Kat ever offers a prompt for 5 cats, I'm on it!)
Have a good day!
I love that you even found pictures to go along with them!
Bullet looks like quite the character! I don't doubt that there IS lots of good Bullet stories - I can just see it in his face!
Angel was beautiful! And really? Shame on Bullet!
It's next to impossible to lose your Angel, after all. :-D
Fantastic post! We had a (not so smart) cocker spaniel as well who was CONSTANTLY beat up by the cat.
I am a dog lover, I love them all. Wonderful memories of your old dogs and your Sweetie. Great photos!
Since, hubby and I have been together over twenty years now we have had five dogs. First was a yellow lab, Sunshine, then came Daisy a Golden Ret. Then Sunshine had pups and we kept Maui a male choc lab and then Daisy had pups and we kept one of hers named Sierra. Sierra was always escaping so we gave her to my father. So at one time we had 4 dogs, 2 Labs and 2 Goldens. These 4 have now passed on and we have our latest Golden, Goldie Girl. They are all dearly missed!
I love that you've kept all the pictures. I can't find any of my old pets from when I was little. Sad. Love all your sweets dogs!
Your pictures are so lovely! While my sisters and cousins have pictures of our grandparents with their parents and siblings, I have all the pictures of family members with pets. It's actually turned into an album of it's own!
I love the old photos. Nicely done.
The picture of little Roger with Rusty brought tears to my eyes.
Oddly enough, the only one of the dogs I remember is Angel! And I had forgotten that the back of your 'new' house in Dendron looked so big! Thanks for the memories!
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