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| Photo from Google Images, street mongrel |
Define Mongrel....A mongrel, is a mixed-breed dog or mutt is a dog that does not belong to one officially recognized breed and is not the result of intentional breeding. quote from Wikipedia
At 8 years old, I chose a dog much like the one above from the humane society. Mother said why do you want THAT dog? look at this one and this one. No! I want this one... Why? Because he is ugly and no one else will want him. He was ugly, the one above is beautiful to me. I named him Sticky Baby, something to do with syrup and pancakes.
In 1955, Daddy was still in school at Clear Creek Baptist Preachers school, which allowed him to finish high school and get his degree. He was still pastor at the church mentioned in prior post.
We lived on campus. The rules said NO PETS! There were Strays from the mountains surrounding us.
Guess who sneaked around and fed the stray that looks like the one above, Exactly like the one above. I named her Ginger. A few weeks after she started hanging around we got up to find FIVE PUPPIES..... I fed them all. they got big enough to be noticed.
Daddy was called into the deans office and reminded of the NO PETS policy on campus. The dean was told they were NOT OUR DOGS.
The dean called the animal control. They came and gathered all the stray's, about 10 of them including my 6 strays.
In my infinite wisdom, I told the DEANS twin sons that their dad had locked up all the dogs in their garage and the truck was coming to take them away. They will KILL them I sobbed...
The next thing I knew I was in trouble for Breaking Out the Strays.. It seems someone took the bar off the garage door and LET THE DOGS OUT! ( I may have stood and watched the breakout 😊)
But Daddy, I didn't do it. the twins did it. The dogs stayed. They lived on scraps moving from house to house and I loved them all. I had the dogs but did not have the dogs, no vets were needed.
In 1956 daddy graduated and his new church was 90 miles away and when we moved to Sloans Valley, we took Brownie and Blackie with us, two of the puppies. I don't remember why it was those two.
The thing is they wreaked havoc from the day we moved in. Half grown, they gathered newspapers and shredded them, they turned over trash, they went on peoples porches and removed feather pillows from the railings and RIPPED and rained a snowstorm of white feathers from their front porch to ours. I was almost 13and thought what is the big deal?
A few weeks after the feather fiasco, Mother and Daddy forced me to ride 12 hours in our 1953 Pontiac back to Savannah, Georgia to visit family...
When we returned home to Sloan's Valley a week later, Blackie and Brownie were no where to be found. I WAS TOLD they must have run away.....
I have often wondered if daddy asked, or paid someone to get rid of the dogs OR if they did it without him knowing. I always and to this day believe he was the instigator of the disappearing pups, but he never admitted it. I DO STILL BELIEVE they did NOT run away!!!
20 comments:
I always thought that Jake was a pit bull. He must be half pit bull. I love these stories! You were so smart to talk to the Dean's sons!! I do not think the dogs ran away either. Your stories are wonderful, you should write a book of them.
Thank you!!! I dearly love your stories!! No, they did NOT run away!!
Life is tough and sometimes tough decisions are made. Your love of dogs remained! I don't mean to sound ungrateful - but could we have some more stories?? Please. Pretty please with sugar on top?
Of course they didn't run away. But what a story.
Hari OM
Definitely 'suss'... this reminds me so much of the ashram dogs who are there but 'not there'... sigh. Dogs test our hearts, don't they?! Another great tail.. errrr... tale. Thanks, Sandra! YAM xx
Too bad you didn't connect with the new vet. It sounds like it's still a good place to take Jake though.
Yep, sounds pretty suspicious about Blackie and Brownie. Unlikely they just ran away.
I don't think they ran away either, Sandra...:)JP
You have had a life-long love and tenderness for dogs. All the best to you with the new vet and Jake.
You are surely a dog lover. Hope things will work out with the new vet.
Hello, It is good to have a vet that both you and Jake are comfortable when visiting. I used to go around my old neighborhood feeding the stray dogs, they often slept on our porch. It is sad that your dogs were taken away, I do not think they ran away. Enjoy your day!
Best type of dogs....the mutts! Although I have to say that Dakota, Rat Terrier has been the best of my world. He is only the 2nd dog I have had since I left home at 20. Pepper my first was an amazing mutt but raising kids I did not have the time to give to her that I wished I had. Dakota on the other hand has been with me when I needed him the most in my life. Yep....course keep in mind, he is not a full blooded rat either! Hoping you had a great day yesterday. And yes, it was so hot out here yesterday that even withe the fan, I could not nap on the deck! haha
Brownie and Blackie..what a wonderful story of where your love of dogs started. I'm so sorry you returned to find them gone forever. It is heartbreaking for a child to loose a pet.
Hugs Cecilia and Madi
It is possible they were taken away by a neighbour while you were gone and your Dad never arranged it. Back then dogs lived outdoors and could wander. Once you were away they needed food so they likely figured oyut a good place that had scraps and that was not a wise choice. The heighbour then took over and who knows what happened? We had that happen. We had a spayed cat wander off at the farm and a few weeks later our kids found her locked up inside a neighbours’ house. They tried to claim her. We had her vet papers with chip id so they had to return her. After that our kids rarely played with the neighbours’s kids. But I wonder if our wondering cat might be partially to blame?
Keep writing. It is fun to read your stories.
God Bless you!
Your heart is so HUGE Sandra.
I'm sure those "strays" found Heavenly homes because of your love and care for them.
I think you will have extra stars in your crown someday because of your love for strays and mongrels.
Loved hearing about your love of dogs that started at an early age. As a teenager I loved my old dog that came from a rescue home. She stayed with my parents when I got married, but we've had other dogs over the years until these retirement years when we've been travelling around a lot. I'm sure the new vet is a good, efficient person, although we always want others to love our pets in a heartfelt way as we do ourselves. I hope any further visits to the vet are good experiences for you and Jake.
No, they probably didn't run away - but sometimes you have to make hard decisions - I am sorry - and you still remember it?
I LOVE your heart, Sandra. That business of the canine breakout is hysterical!
Of course, you remember those things which MATTER. No, I agree, those pups didn't just run away. :( Someday Blackie and Brownie can tell you all about it.
PS - This reminds me when my dad bought home two itty-bitty ducklings ... that lived in a box in the dinette of our tiny apartment ... that just happened to disappear when I was away at summer camp.
Luckily for us...Our Mom and Dad are just like you were, so we always had at least 3 dogs living with us! To this day, in their late 70s(Mom) and early 80s(dad) they have 2 big dogs and a cat.
I am proud to get my passion for animals from them :-)
I definitely enjoyed reading your story. Sorry that those puppies were taken away. You certainly have a heart for the mongrels. I wouldn't have called your dogs that!
Oh, my we must have been twins born years apart. I was always taking a stray home...and I am not saying what happened to them. It wasn't good.
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