Thirteen years ago today Tikken, our Golden Retriever puppy, was born at Mariner Kennels in Jefferson, ME. Happy birthday to the world’s best; companion, bed warmer, demo dog, felonious pie thief, toe licker, retired therapy dog, apple connoisseur, nurse, playmate, and ”Got Mud!” girl.
This morning as I opened my Outlook calendar I saw a small notation in purple, the color I use to denote birthdays and anniversaries, stating “Trivia Arrives (1975).” It was thirty-five years ago today that I brought home my first dog, a cute little ball of black fluff I would name Trivia and end up calling “Trivy” for short.
This morning I received the following email from Kris Christine of The Rabies Challenge Fund. Our Golden Retriever Tikken had a serious reaction to a Rabies vaccine so I know firsthand how important this study is. Paula and I and Green Acres have been a supporter of the Rabies Challenge Fund since its inception. I hope you will consider supporting the fund as well.
It was 18 years ago yesterday, the Saturday before Easter, when Paula and I walked into a pet shop at the East Towne Mall in Madison, WI and met Gus for the first time. We had a new home and decided that it was time that we add a dog to our lives. We had been advised against getting a dog from a pet store; however, when we walked in we told ourselves we were “just looking.” Paula’s boss at the time, Dr. Warner, had recommended we consider getting a Cairn Terrier. Since neither of us had seen many Cairn’s we want
ed to at least see if the store had one that we could look at.
At 12 weeks of age Gus was already extremely cute, with lots of personality. Food was a major focus even then. Out of all the caged puppies, Gus was the only one with his muzzle buried in his dish eating, while every other puppy was trying to get the attention of the people in the store. We played with Gus in the introduction room and he was very alert and very interactive with us. It was at that point that I started calling him Gus. He just looked and acted like a Gus to me. Gus had helped us reach the conclusion that a Cairn Terrier was the breed for us, but we left him in the store because we did not want to get a pet store puppy.
