As I go through my journals, I wrote
about many things, including pets. When I first met my husband he had his dog,
Bear – a shepherd who had been training to be a drug sniffing dog for Maryland
His mom’s dog got pregnant –
neighbor’s dog – and had a litter shortly after we got married and were
expecting our own bundle. We ended up with one of the pups from that litter …
though not for long.
Entry
from Thursday, 28 January 1993:
The other day
(Tuesday) the man came to take the puppies when Glenn dropped me off at my
parent‘s. I started bawling. I didn’t want to loose my puppy – the black one.
He is so adorable! He cuddles right up to me and he’s really good in my
car. Anyway, Tuesday morning Glenn got
back to the house five minutes before the came for the puppies. He had just
enough time to talk his mom into letting me keep the black one.
His name is
SQUIRT. Squirt was eight weeks old on Wednesday. Tomorrow he goes to the vet.
Right now he is curled up next to me on the waterbed!
Entry from Saturday, 30 January
1993:
Yesterday we
took Squirt to the vet ($24). Worms
I bought him
a chain collar and a lead yesterday too. Hopefully – if Glenn and Squirt ever
wake up and get their lazy @**#* out of bed – we can take both Squirt and Bear
for a walk. I’m surprised how well the two of them get along.
Entry from Sunday, 31 January
1993:
We took
Squirt and Bear for a walk through the field this afternoon. Bear was not very
obedient. Squirt was okay but he did not like his lead. After our walk, we took
the pups to get ice cream but Bear snapped and snarled at Glenn so he didn’t
get his. … I gave him some later when we got home and Glenn was clueless!
Entry from Tuesday, 22 February
1993:
Squirt’s
getting bigger every day. Need a new chain already.
Entry from Friday, 12 March 1993:
Squirt is SO
big now. He is still at my parents. Mom said he actually moved their sofa the
other day!
I am worried
about how well Squirt will act when he gets home and sees he is no longer the
only baby.
Sometime in between “oh he is so
cute” and this next entry, Squirt had started to show that he was just mental.
He would do stupid stuff and started not listening to Glenn. My mother-in-law
absolutely hated the dog – or perhaps me and by extension the dog, which is
more likely. Anyway, one night Glenn came in late one night and Squirt was in
bed as usual. I was out cold. Squirt almost attacked Glenn when he tried to
shoo him out of bed.
Entry from Tuesday, 13 July 1993:
Friday night
we went to our District 5A 1st Quarter meeting. Glen and I got 1st
quarter Jaycees of the Quarter. After we all went to Chuck’s. Dave & Sandra
from PV agreed to take Squirt. I feel torn giving him away but am so tired of
his mom complaining.
Now Dave and Sandra had a farm. We
thought this would be good for the dog. He would have lots of room to run.
Sandra later told me the dog was just not right. It was just little things at
first. Finally they took the dog to a dog psychiatrist! They were still working
with the puppy shrink when Squirt got loose one day and chased a milk truck …
and lost.
A word of caution – never let an
emotional pregnant woman make animal choices!
Your turn:
Squirt was our first pet that was
ours together. Did you have a pet when you were first married? What kind was
it? What was your best memory concerning the pet?
Amanuensis Monday is a genealogical prompt of
GeneaBloggers.
© Jeanne
Ruczhak-Eckman
I'm glad to see pets making their way into our family histories, even if they are mental. You did your best for Squirt.
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