Throwback Thursday --- Old Photographs and Puppies!

It’s just the most amazing thing to love a dog, isn’t it? It makes our relationships with people
seem as boring as a bowl of oatmeal.
John Grogan

by Skip Cohen

It's Throwback Thursday, and as usual, I went off searching for old photographs. I stumbled on those three images in the top left of the collage above, and that took me where I wanted to go - Where would we be without the fur-balls in our lives?

This month, just three days apart, Lucy and Belle turned five.  If you're like us with your pets, it's hard to remember when they weren't in our lives. Here's the short backstory...

I lost Molly the Wonder Dog in February 2019 and was crushed. Anyone who's ever lost a dog or cat knows exactly what I'm talking about. It was around seven months later that Sheila started talking about getting another dog—no, dogs. I'd never had two dogs at once. We brought the "girls" home in November, 2019.

A month or so into having them in the family, Sheila and I would look at each other and think, "What made us think at our age we'd have the patience for puppies?" A few months later, we couldn't imagine life without them! They carried us through the boredom and frustration of Covid, making each day a memory-maker. And here we are today, and they own our hearts!

So, we've morphed into full-time dog people, and we love it.

For those of you who have never had two dogs, go for it in the future. Lucy and Belle joined us at the same time, both four months old. They're "sisters," and they keep each other company all day. They have different personalities: Belle (the little one) is the Alpha, and Lucy is always mellow, even allowing Belle to eat some of her food now and then. Belle's scared to death of thunder and snuggles up next to Lucy when there's a storm. They play together, chase each other, and wrestle over toys and bones. They are definitely two of the most loved pups on the planet, with a pretty extensive vocabulary.

Most relevant of all is the role photography has played in all the memories over the last five years. Like a family with a new baby, the files are full of shots of Lucy and Belle. Every image or video has a story that takes us back to that moment when the shutter was clicked. 

Happy Throwback Thursday!

Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.
Orhan Pamuk

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
W.R. Purche