He was the Best of Dogs, He was the Worst of Dogs

When I was a child, we lost our dog in the 1972 Agnes Flood. This does NOT sound like a very happy beginning to a story,,, does it?

Well, after the clean up and repairs were done, the children in the household were aching for another dog. To our joy and our delight, a family which lived a few blocks away from us just HAPPENED to be on the lookout for anyone who may want a puppy.

 

 

All four of us children, as well as our mother, converged at the home of this family with the dogs to give away. There, amongst the batch of puppies was a tiny black puppy with just the right amount of white...his hair was wiry and his eyes were most thoughtful.  As small children of 5, 8, 10, and 12, we were most original in our choice of name for the puppy... Blackie II. Our first dog's name was, of course, Blackie.

 

 

Blackie II was a border collie mix whose main goal was to keep us home in our own little yard. If we would ride our bicycles, he would run over to us, grab our pants legs, head WHIRLING about, until we would fall with a thud.. and then, that silly dog would literally try to DRAG us back into the yard!

 

 

If we wished to go to the public pool, we needed to negotiate the outing with the precision of a military unit.  One fair day, we were enjoying a very fun day of splashing and relaxing at the public pool, when chaotic screeches filled the air.  A bolt of black and white was streaking through the pool changing rooms, and then it emerged on the other side of the changing rooms -- and it didn't even stop to pay the entrance fee!  My older sister took quick action:  she looked at the rest of her siblings and said, "DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO THE DOG!   If he comes NEAR you, DUCK into the WATER!" 

 

We tried to appease her, but the silly dog stood at the side of the pool, barking his fool head off; and there was NO way that THIS girl could hold her breath THAT long!  So, one by one, the Sheddy children's heads bobbed back out of the water, gasping for air.  And then one kid, maybe two, pointed to us and exclaimed, "THERE!  That's who the dog belongs to!  Them!" 

 

Our gooses were cooked, the lifeguard's fingers directing us O-U-T - OUT, and four, wet children trudged home dejectedly from the swimming pool with a very happy, bouncy dog proud of achieving his goal.

As summer breezes turned to the cool autumn winds, the time had come; we HAD to go to school, but Blackie didn't agree. I remember one day, while my class was outside to play a rousing game of kickball, WHO should we see bounding past the pond that bordered the property, but a black dog with the wisps of white streaking about!

 

 

He had ONE goal in mind,,, to retrieve his human children... HOWEVER, as soon as he saw the kickball fly from the foot of a young boy, his objective changed. He was on a one-way trip to that kick ball! Now, Blackie LOVED to chase balls, and we went through so many punctured balls we could have kept the Wilson Sporting Goods company in business for years! He would eye a football, kickball, any ball... he would run lickety split after the ball, and then chomp down fiercely, his teeth piercing the tender ball. His ears would flap with the heavy gusts of air emitting from the puncture wounds that meant the end of the lastest ball, and then he would run with all of his might, creating a new game for the children and himself, known as "chase the dog with the unrepairable ball."

 

 

But, back to this day on the kick ball field... as soon as he witnessed the ball, his feet took off with fast precision. I yelled, "HEAD HIM OFF! PROTECT THE BALL!" But it was too late. His fangs pierced through the ball, the gusty air flapped his ears, and he took off with every single child from that fourth grade class taking off in a scurrying pace in a game that these children called, "LET'S KILL THE DOG!!" Finally, the dog presented his catch to one of his owners -- me -- and that is when the glares, stares and angry words came my way about how I ruined recess that day. But I will always look back on that day with laughter and pride.. because that dog's appearance DID get me out of class for a half an hour until my mother could drag him back home until another adventure would present itself!