Dogs

I love dogs and I married a man who did not care for dogs as he thought they were unsanitary, among other things. My father-in-law was a sanitarian so maybe that is where he got his attitude. The first dog was named Skippy. I was about six but he was hit by a car so my Dad did not want any more dogs. The 2nd was named Tarbabby and belonged to my sister, Ethel. He was a black cockerspaniel and we were great friends. However she moved to San Diego and took her dog with her. Then my husband-to-be gave me a blonde cocker spaniel I named Cokey. He was great. However when Ray asked for my hand in marriage, my dad said "You can have her but not her dog." Then we had birds as I needed a pet. But they only chirped.

The week before our youngest son was born, a newspaper friend gave Ray a dog which we named Pogo. He was very smart and could trail anyone, even my mother-in-law when she went for a walk. We had him about seven years. Then he was hit by a car and had to go to a vet. It was near labor day and Ray drove a racing car and ran into a brick wall and had to go to the hospital. The day he came home I got him settled and then went to get the dog. When we got home from the vet, I opened the car door and let him out. He ran to the porch and dropped dead. I called the vet and two came out. Later they called me to say he had died of cheer joy.

Our next dog was named Snoopy. It was about the time that we were being interviewed to have an exchange student and we put the dog out when they came but someone let him in and he rushed into the front room and stood on his hind legs and played the piano then went over and threw up in front of the committee. They gave us an exchange student from Norway as they said if we could survive the dog we could stand anything.

After he died we had Bimbo and she was with us for 17 years. Ray still did not like dogs but when the dog died he was writing a column for the K C Star and he wrote a sad column about the dog. The kids asked why since he did not even like Bimbo. We were offered a dog which we got right before Christmas and named her Holly. That was fine until we got a granddaughter named Holly and we would yell at the dog and this cute little girl would turn up to find what she did. After Holly dog died we did not have one for awhile and then Scott had a great dog named Abe and was going to Washington for the summer and left the dog here which was a mistake as I did not want to give him back. He lived 14 years and died of a tumor.

After Ray died I was lonely and my granddaughter, Erin, had gone to California and left her dog with her parents who loaned me a black lab named Ashiki. She was named after a KU football player. Needless to say Erin came home and I did not want to give her back and Erin let me keep her. Then not being a good driver I ran into a building and did something to my knee so my daughter took Ashiki home to Wichita, where she died. She was seven years old and her brother had died just before she did.

I came home and was lonesome again and my daughter Cindy and my granddaughter Holly got me a five-year-old dog from Pet Smart that had been raised in the prison at Lansing, Ks. We named him Buster since he busted out of Lansing Prison. I do love having a dog. However I like cats also and have had a few.