DOG SHOW

I have been watching the dog shows on TV. I miss having a dog. I've always had a dog of some sort. But, when we lost our last little guy in 1995. We decided , no more. Too painful. And then even though where we were renting, pets were OK. When we had to move, no guarantees. However, turns out we were able to qualify to buy. By then, our health became a care. We just no longer have the energy to be able to properly care for a small fur companion. We can barely care for ourselves.
When I was a child and used to spend a lot of time at my Grandma's. When i learned to read, she pulled out some books she had kept, that my dad and siblings had read as kids. I was delighted. One of the stories w3as about a little girl and companion standard poodle that cared and protected the little girl. Sounded like a poodles were the greatest dogs in the world. Well, I decided then and there, that when i was grown up, i would have one of those. At that time I think standard poodles were the only size. but, it came to me, that perhaps, by the time I could have one. Maybe the dogs would have been bred down. Yes, well worth the wait. When I was young, I was nothing, if not patient.
As the years went by, I was sort of able to follow stories about poodles. Then in a movie, one of the female characters had a tiny poodle!!! Yes!! Of course the poor little dog in the movie was always dyed to match whatever the actress was wearing. Goodness. In reality, several poodles were used for each scene and color.
But, I had to wait until I was able to make my own money.
I was finally able to buy my poodle when I was 23. I couldn't wait and ended up using part of my college expense allowance, I got every month from my Dad, when I came down here to attend University. Yes, I was a little nutsy about it. But, the little one was well worth it.
I looked up dogs, breeders, kennels in the phone book. My poodle was a female black toy-miniature. And I named her: Pepper. She was the delight of my life for ten years. She died of cancer. The vet said if I had had her spayed. She would have been healthier. I used that vet for haLF OF pEPPER'S LIFE. wHY DIDN;T HE SAY SOMETHING SOONER??!!
I will continue the story later.

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Here are two photos of her. The top is her first Christmas. The second is how she loved to spend the hot summer days.