I cannot remember a time when Scott and I did not have a dog or two in our lives. All have been dogs whose owners needed to find a new home for their dog. When I first met my husband Scott, he had a beautiful golden colored setter-retriever mix named Kacey. She was such a good girl, obedient and eager to please. Everybody loved Kacey. She would visit the neighbors on each side of us on a daily basis. Our neighbors to the North, Karen and Buddy, would let her in their house to play with their kids. The cranky neighbor to the South, Lloyd didn’t much like people, but he loved Kacey, and any dog for that matter. He was having a hard time training a dog that he had rescued. He knew Kacey was obedient so he would take her with him and his dog for a walk in the woods. When he would shout out a command to Kacey, she would obey, and his dog would follow her. Thus, he was able to train his dog in the basic commands. This same neighbor was a gardener. When he finished weeding or planting, he would lay his leather garden gloves on the front porch to dry. Kacey would wait for him to go into the house and would then steal a glove and slither back home. One day I noticed her guiltily walking across our front lawn with something in her mouth. When I realized it was a garden glove I thought, “oh no, our thief of a dog is going to get us in trouble with Lloyd.” Soon after, Lloyd and Althea’s children organized a Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary party. Of course, Kacey was invited. We gave them a few pairs of leather garden gloves from Kacey. When they opened the gift, they laughed and Lloyd said, “I wondered what was happening to all my gloves!” For many years later, after Kacey and our neighbors had passed on, Scott and I continued to dig up leather garden gloves as we were tending to our flower gardens.
After a few months without a dog, we considered getting a small dog, thinking it would be less messy. Kacey liked to wade in the stinky, muddy pond water trying to snap up frogs as they hurriedly jumped from the shore into the deeper water. She would then return to the house smelling like a swamp and barking to be let in. One day while at work, my boss asked if anyone would like to adopt a seven-month-old pug. I readily said I was interested and contacted the owner. Within a few days we were the happy owners of a mischievous, crazy black pug we named Pippin. His mannerisms and behaviors were much different from Kacey’s. He was not there to please us, we were there to please him. If we left the kitchen chairs away from the table, we would find Pippin on the kitchen table. If we left the closet door open, we would find our shoes and slippers all over the house. He chewed our glasses, remote controls and shoes. Oh, my goodness, what did we do? Kacey never did this! We learned to keep chairs pushed in and closet doors closed. If we needed a dog sitter, our friends Sam and Abby would take care of Pippin for us. Their yellow lab named Prudy was the same age, and their birthdays were one week apart. Coincidentally, fourteen years later, Prudy and Pippin died one week apart.
When Pippin was five, a friend called and said her husband’s coworker was desperately trying to find a home for a four-year-old black pug. We said OK and within a few days this couple arrived at our house with a small baggie of dog food, a little dog bed and Maggie She was a sweet little girl who loved to antagonize Pippin. She would come running quickly toward Pippin and as she passed him she would nip at his tail. He would give her a snarling growl as she whizzed by him. It turned out that Maggie was actually 9 years old when we got her, but we had 9 good years with her. She was almost 18 when she died.
We were again dogless, so we started looking into adopting from a dog rescue. But as dogs in need of homes seem to come our way when we need them, so did our next pug. My nephew and his family, who live in Pennsylvania, had a mastiff and two pug puppies. This turned out to be too much to handle. My sister told them Scott and I were looking for another dog and next thing I knew I was on my way to Pennsylvania to pick up another black pug. We named him Samwise after Frodo’s faithful friend. Since Sam and Abby had recently picked up another yellow lab puppy that they named Rita, we were anxious to show them our new addition. We let Rita and Samwise out into the yard where Prudy and Pippin used to play. It was like deja vu. The two were running and playing like old friends. Coincidentally, they are the same age and their birthdays are one day apart.
Since we are now retired, we are traveling more, and Samwise comes with us. While on a 2-month camping trip out west in 2022 we became friends with a couple from New Zealand who really took to Sammie. He spent a lot of time with them during this trip, as did we.
I’m not done yet, there’s one more. We had heard about a very busy woman who had a fawn-colored pug. She left the dog alone too often and for long periods of time. To make a very long story short, she finally agreed to give us the dog. We picked him up in August of 2023. We are still trying to figure him out and work on his issues. He is a very sweet dog and has a comical personality. He came to us with the name of Ernie. In July of 2023 our friend Bernie who loved pugs and especially loved our pug Sammie, passed away after a battle with brain cancer. When we got Ernie, we decided to call him Bernie in memory of our very special friend from New Zealand.
Bernie and Samwise have also befriended our neighbors’ standard poodle named Jocco. He has been known to abandon his owners in the woods if he picks up the pugs’ scent, thus leaving Paul and Donna to hike through the woods only to find him romping with the pugs in our back yard.
Rita, Samwise and Bernie frequently go on hikes together with their humans. You might see them all running together if you take a walk on the Suffield Land Conservancy trails.
I can’t imagine our life without a dog or two. Although losing them is heartbreaking, we would never give up the many years of joy that they bring to us.