The Dogs in my Life...a Retrospective

I am a good Southern girl and like most good Southern girls with permissive parents, I had dogs...lots of dogs. My first dog was a Collie, who I reportedly named "Peppy". Apparently, I had a bit of a speech problem and I was trying to say "puppy" and the moniker stuck. Peppy was a good dog who roamed the neighborhood in the days before leash laws, and all sorts of other laws and dangers that have sucked the fun out of childhood. I used to run around my house with Peppy chasing me. Invariably, I was in socks on the hardwood and I always ended up either getting nipped like the girl in the old Coppertone ad or I slipped and hit my head. You know nobody went to the hospital for CAT scans in the 60's, so why I am I so worried about my children??? Were our heads harder back then?
My next dog was part Schnauzer, part Wirehair Terrier. I could recite that on cue at around 6 or 7 years old and I said it with such pride. Why??? I named this puppy too...Bambi...I was so original even then. She had puppies with the toy poodle from across the street...he was quite a player. You know how those Poodles were back in the day...they were all that and they knew it too. This one was white and had those drippy eyes...I was never a poodle fan, but to each his own. I got to pick a puppy and I chose a white one and named it, "Poo Poo" I am assuming and hoping it was a play on the name poodle. I obviously was not being guided by any adults. Poo Poo was... part Schnauzer,part Wire haired Terrier, and part Poodle. I was so proud ha ha! There were also other litters and I cannot seem to remember any others staying around very long. They must have decided that the names that they were bound to be stuck with would limit their prospects so they did not stay long. There was a short lived Irish Setter...probably named Red who ate the sofa and was promptly dispatched to some farm in the country, or so I was told.

The following pictures are of the animals of my adult life. Some have gone to doggie heaven and some are still with me. I reminisced too long and I will have to save them for later.

Thank you for letting me indulge in my trip down memory lane. I would love to hear your animal stories from childhood. I am such a believer that pets enhance our lives and have great healing abilities .