First was a parakeet that I named "Dickie bird". Darn bird never did learn his name LOL Then dimestore turtles I named "Beaver and Lively". In the meantime Mom and Dad finally consented to a dog, a dashchund named "Fritz" when I was 8. That dog was loved with doll bonnets, rides, doctoring and walks. He even learned to sit up, though would often fall over backwards. I cried and cried when Mom called to say he had colon cancer and was put down my sophomore year of college. While DH and I were waiting for Army housing, our first together, we rescued a baby chipmunk from a cat and had "Stewie", named after Stewart Airforce Base. Stewie grew and regained his confidence and we sadly let him go back into the wild 2 weeks later. The same day we went to the pound and found the cutest Golden puppy. We adopted "Heidi". When she passed we saw a litter in the newspaper saying Golden puppies...........false advertising but definitely a draw LOL "Jodi" looked part Shepherd and part lab but smaller. She was a lovely dog, but not cuddly enough for me. She became our son's bed mate however, ha, ha, and took the pillow for herself. Finally found a Golden: "Molly", then "Kelsi" who died of a bowel obstruction at 16 mo. We were devastated and went back to the same breeder for another girl. She had a litter of 9, all boys. Well, after seeing a litter of puppies it wouldn't matter it they were purple, right? We chose not one, but two (my DH wanted one and our daughter wanted another) so Mom (me) agreed to both and "Jake and Riley" came to live with us for 13 + yrs.
They cost us a fortune in medical bills at the Univ. of IL: terrible allergies, and Jake had a weird problem where his bladder and his brain didn't jive. That was luckily a quick pill fix, but took lots of testing and research into Journal articles for them to finally figure out. Finally nasal cancer that required surgery and radiation at the age of 11. He was such a character though and always happy, even throughout the treatment....almost a court jester personality and was the love of the clinic. Students would study for their finals in his cage until I could pick him up. Jake and Riley died within 17 days of ea. other, Riley first. We lived without dogs for a long 3.5 yrs. but had our daughters to love on. We finally got two more Goldens from a breeder and now have "Finley and Declan" who are 4.5 yrs. old. They are our most trained and follow my DH wherever he goes: in the yard or in the pool etc. We travel a lot as all three of our kids live a distance away, but luckily have fantastic house sitters. Next year we hope to get a small RV so the dogs can accompany us on many of our US trips.
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