Puppy DNA And Beer

Looking back at your life and the people involved in your joys, heartaches, ups, downs, pleasure, and pains which one sticks out as the one who was always there, never judging you and always had a nice long warm tongue to slide right across your face in that good old unconditional love that never judges. Yes that good old dog of yours is always there, sitting by the door waiting for your return and getting you into some situations that without this pooches presence you never would have found. Looking back and thinking of some of the dogs who have graced our lives I want to tell you a few of the situations we never would have gotten into without this particular one.

Dutchess aka “The Dutch” was a cross between a Chinese Pug and a Terrier we were told, when we called a number in the newspaper advertising “Free Puppies” to inquire about getting a new pup for Cindy, we drove to the next town over from where we lived to give these pups a look, we were told that it was a litter of fourteen pups and it would be about a week before they were ready to go, but if we found one we wanted they would hold it for us, OK I’m thinking fingernail polish on a nail, a picture to identify, or even a description on a piece of paper so the one we picked would be the one we got, well needless to say these folks were not that organized.

The large litter of pups were with their Mom inside a large refrigerator box that had been cut and taped together to hold them inside the house for viewing, Cindy looked all fourteen pups over but was immediately drawn to one, this little pup just seemed to stay in her arms and the decision was made, when we inquired about a time to pick her up we were told to come back in a week and if she were still there then we could have her, she wanted no money so the price was right but Cindy could not bear the thought of coming back in a week and Dutchess being gone, yes she had already named the pup, the lady mentioned that if we took her now that she would have to be bottle fed due to not being weaned yet and if we couldn’t handle that then we had to take a chance of her being gone in a week because it would be “First come first serve”. So to the car we went with me thinking of how soon we could get back to pick up our free pup, Cindy stayed back a bit and continued to look over the pups while holding Dutchess close to her chest, she counted fourteen pups in the box with Dutchess making fifteen and with the realization that there was an extra pup she sadly turned to follow me to the car, on the way home she mentioned that we needed to stop by the store to pick up some bottles and formula, I’m thinking that we could do this and I can see Cindy trying to talk the lady into letting us take the pup home today, I was ready to turn around to go back when out of her pocket Cindy reveals “The Dutch” squirming and whining looking for something to latch onto, I realized that we were going to be making a stop for bottles because my wife had just stolen a free puppy.

Several times a night we were up bottle feeding our new baby, and it was very soon that her eyes were open and she had become a welcome part of our family, when she was young her looks reminded me of Tramp from “Lady and the Tramp” her antics showed us that she was going to make our life much better simply from the laughter she brought to our home, she was a very smart dog and up to the day she died when she was inside the house and Cindy asked “Do you want your Bob-ba” she would run and sit pretty next to the table by the chair Cindy had always bottle fed her in, she never actually wanted a bottle but this always made us laugh and the wag of her tail showed us she enjoyed this little trick as much as we did, she was very protective of Cindy and anyone she didn’t know was blocked from getting anywhere near Cindy, she would place herself in between them and Cindy and the look or low growl kept them distant until Cindy told her that they were OK, one that was supposed to be OK still got a bite on the leg simply because Dutchess didn’t trust him, I never knew why but you have to watch a person a dog doesn’t trust, she loved being outside and when she wanted either in or out we would hear a knock at the door, not a scratch but a knock, I am still not sure exactly how she did this but I know several times I have gone to answer a knock at the door thinking someone was there to find Dutchess sitting there wagging her tail.

Dutchess as she got a little older became interested in “Boys”, actually you know the story of the birds and bees, the flowers and trees, yep that thing called love, or for our Dog friends that thing called being in “Heat” we were good at keeping an eye on her and watching out for those bad dogs sneaking down the alley trying to come in and entice our little Dutchess into something she knew nothing about, and as you all have figured we messed up one day and the Red Healer from up the street paid Dutchess a visit and eight puppies later we had yet another dog named Hank who looked just like his Daddy but that’s a whole other post.

Rob the owner of the Red Healer came down and offered to help us with the pups since he was now a Granddaddy, he helped us find owners for the pups and provided food for the little ones that were still living with us, Rob was a good guy and I was really impressed at his insistence of helping out since his dog had jumped our fence, a few years later I was impressed at his insistence once again, when he came to our door with a list of costs and asked for some dog food to feed his dog, I thought this was strange but if he needed some help we were willing, but I had to laugh when he went on to explain how his dog had a litter of pups and our dog was the one that had jumped his fence this time and impregnated his dog, paybacks he laughed, out in our backyard we had two dogs, one being Dutchess and the other was a male Chinese Pug named Duke who not only was too short to jump our fence, much less ours then his to impregnate his dog then back over the two fences to our yard again, with this scenario aside he also didn’t have the equipment that made it possible for him to be the daddy, I mentioned to Rob that Duke was fixed and there was no way that he could be the Daddy, he told me that it wasn’t Duke it was the other one in our yard, I had him walk around to point out the Dog in question and “The Dutch” was accused of being the Daddy until I explained that she was the Momma of his Grand puppies, he looked at us and said “Oh never mind then” and walked away. I guess we are still waiting for the Puppy DNA results, but I still think Dutchess is not the “Baby Daddy”

Duke, Cindy, and "The Dutch"

Dutchess although very protective also was very accepting of our friends once introduced, we always had friends of the kids hanging around and Casey the young airman I told you about in Another Son became very close to Dutchess, she would actually sit next to him while we were enjoying the evening and make sure his beer never got hot, if he ever sat it on the ground next to him, she would somehow suck the can dry before he picked it up for the next drink, the can was never turned over nor crushed but would be empty, you never saw her do it because she waited until no one was watching, we tested this theory with Casey sitting his beer down and everyone turning their head, we heard a sound like sucking through a straw and turned back to see Dutchess smiling at us and the can was now empty, Casey always got a lick in the face when he asked her what happened to his beer and before it was all said and done he had to admit that Dutchess was a good kisser.

Dutchess left us on the fifth of July the year before we moved to California and we still laugh at the antics we recollect her doing, she may have taken a drink now and then and kissed young airmen when they least expected it, may have been a bit protective and most likely never fathered a litter of pups, she knew how to knock on a door and where her bottle was kept and how to get deep inside your heart, her short time in our lives will live in our memory from now on, my suggestion to you is to love that dog of yours and let them make you happy because they will love you no matter what anyone else thinks about you and they will always be there when you need their love, that wet tongue across your face is a blessing, come on admit it, you know you love it.