After leaving my childhood home for college what I missed most was having a pet. I took my turtle Pee-Wee with me, but I missed my dogs and cat. Although turtles are one of my favorite creatures upon this earth,there is nothing like having a dog or a cat to be there when you come home. For me a house is not a home unless there is a furry creature.
The first animal that I was able to adopt was a cat, his name was Snowbank Frank, but he was shared by several of us in a large college home, and was eventually given to a friend. No dogs were allowed in the first place that I lived, so that is why I *settled* for a cat. My longing for a dog never stopped, Once I moved into a apartment that allowed dogs, my quest became intense. I even looked a beautiful litter of Golden Retrievers, none of them spoke to me, I'm just not a Golden type person. I need more piss and vinegar in a dog! On my 21st birthday I was sitting at the bar in the Idle Hour, with my then BF and asking him why we couldn't get a dog, that's all I wanted for my birthday! I was willing to settle for a Beagle, something small, because the BF had never had a dog, and wasn't too keen on the idea of a Big dog. Well a friend over heard us, and said....you know Tasha the wolf dog at the local head-shop? Well she has a litter of puppies and they may have one of the eight puppies that isn't spoken for! My BF said...well that's a dog I'd be interested in! The next day we went and picked out our puppy, Genghis Khan. The puppies were all named already. We had to wait a month, until after Christmas break for them to be ready to leave their mom. I could hardly sleep that entire month with excitement, one of the best birthday gifts of my entire lifetime, my first dog. Khan joined my life and became an ambassador for the Wolf-dog. He and I were very connected, more then any other dog I've owned, including Petey(so far). That once in a lifetime soul-mate dogs. We went everywhere together. Including many moves over his lifetime, he lived in several states and went on lots of vacations. Those were the days before leashes.
Soon after getting Khan, Tex the half Siamese Cat joined our growing fur-family. He was more like a dog then a cat, and would actually go hiking with me, and follow me to work, and hang out in the bar. A true college cat. He was one of a kind and irreplaceable, he will remain as the only cat I've ever owned. He was that special. He and Khan became the best of friends, playing for hours each day, so much in fact that Tex was short haired during Khan's puppy-hood! The boyfriend and I broke up, and the future hubby came in to our life, he was a true animal lover, and adored Khan. We spent every weekend at his house on the lake, Khan loved having more people to hang out with.
Life was good, and changing, Graduations and then our marriage, I have a picture of me in my wedding dress with Khan. He was with us at the reception. He was with me for two major moves to CO and ME, finally settled again, the longing for another dog started. Bugging my hubby for another dog...I wanted a Doberman. My Aunt Mary had Baron, a Gorgeous big black boy, and my FIL had Brandy a beautiful Red girl. Hubby refused to let me spend money on a dog when there were so many out there that needed homes. I dreamily looked at Doberman adds, and thought someday I will have one. One day we were out driving around looking at property to buy, when we passed a yard with a Black female Doberman and a ton of puppies running around a yard. I poked hubby in the shoulder and said...LOOK DOBERMANS! He ignored me, and continued to talk to the Realtor we were with. My shoulders slunk, feeling sad as we drove home after dropping off the Realtor, hubby drove to the house where the puppies were and asked how much they wanted for a puppy....the owner said FREE-take as many as you want! They were Dobe/Weim mixes. There were eight puppies,six all black, a pure gray one, who hubby wanted, and the owner told we couldn't have as he was staying. So hubby picked up the biggest puppy in the litter, pops him under his arm and says...we will take this one! He was the color of a *Red* Doberman. Hubby named him Bigelow before we even arrived at home. He was a delightful silly GIANT boy! The Big Dummy was his nickname. He had a tail the size of a bull whip and used it to inflict major damage on all men that came to visit. Khan and Bigelow became instant friends. Bigelow followed Khan every where. We settled in to a nice life with our fur family. We all moved back to NY. We continued to spend time with our kids, even buying our first new car for them. A hatchback with windows that rolled down so they could hang their heads out. They went everywhere with us for the first five years of our marriage.
Unfortunately for hubby and I, all three were lost to us with in an eighteen month period. Biggs was the first to go, only six weeks before the birth of my first son. Devastated doesn't even begin to cover my feeling over the loss of him, it truly ruined my last six weeks of pregnancy. Next it was Khan who we lost only six weeks after the birth of our son. A dark cloud was over our lives, and a colicky baby made things even more awful. When our son was seventeen months old, Tex was stolen by a neighbor who moved to Maine with him. I was very pregnant with my second son, and too busy and tired to mourn for too long. But It would be a decade before I could bring myself to let another dog in my heart. I felt like I was the most unlucky animal owner in the world. I didn't know if I'd ever have another pet....but the longing started again...and has never left. Dogs are a gift we give to ourselves, they come with pain of loss, but what they bring to our lives far out weighs that pain. I'm thankful that I continue to welcome them in to my life.
The Vernal Pool in the Co. Park had lots of egg masses this morning. Not sure how I missed the females coming as there hasn't been more rain yet. I will take a night time trip up to the pool if we get rain over the next couple of days. It's tradition. In my yard, the flock of Pine Siskins might be nearing two hundred now. They must communicate, how did they all find out that I'm the bird lady, and my feeders are never empty? I'm still hoping that the Green Siskin will return, just so I can get a picture.
Petey and I start a new OB class tonight I'm really looking forward to getting back to training with my sweet boy.
