It’s not a secret that I love dogs. I’ve loved dogs ever since I can remember. This is a post of 3 dogs that have a special place in my heart.

Precious
the younger years 

This is Precious, my mom’s parents dog. Precious showed up, unannounced, in 1977 or 1978. She wandered up their driveway and stuck her head into a bucket to take a drink. And found herself a home. We’re not quite sure what kind of dog she was – she had ears that stood straight up all of the time. She had a puppy, named Doodle, at some point in time (Doodle was adopted by friends of my grandparents so I never got to meet her.) Precious was a ham, as you can tell. My grandfather, G-Daddy, was a photographer and loved to photograph Precious. And she loved it. She didn’t mind being dressed up or having props or anything. She was the most docile creature I have ever met. I came along in 1982, so Precious was getting a little older by then (considering we didn’t know exactly how old she was.) I loved this dog ever since I realized what a dog was. I called her “Hoo Hoo” (trying to say “woo woo” as in “woof woof”) and adored her. I remember when she died and I was 7 years old. My parents and I had gone to Myrtle Beach, SC along with my dad’s parents as we did every summer. When we got back, my mom had called her parents to tell them we had gotten back and that’s when they told her that Precious had died. She died in G-Daddy’s arms, basically. She’s been gone almost 21 years and my grandmother still talks about her all the time. She is still buried up in her backyard, in an old suitcase with one of her favorite things – an empty film can (she loved to chew on them) – and a picture I drew of her.

the older years

This picture was taken about 6 months (give or take a few) before she died. She died summer of 1989.

Babe
sleeping beagle

Meet Babe. Babe was purebred beagle. We got Babe in May 1993 from a breeder. She was the runt of the litter. I picked her out (well, Mama had final say but I spotted her first) and named her. I don’t remember why I picked the name Babe. I really wanted Samantha for some reason but Mama over-ruled that. She was our first family dog. I had been asking for a dog since I learned how to talk and it took almost 11 years to get one. She was a sweet dog, but a little on the dumb side. If you threw a piece of food at her for her to catch, it would just hit her in the head or between the eyes. She once ran through a fireplace screen. But she was loving. She was very attached to my mom. Her bed was on the couch, next to my mom. She loved to sit butt to butt with my mom. She loved my dad and I too, don’t get me wrong, but she loved my mom more. She loved when the weather was not too hot, not too cold – slightly cool. She would come in from outside (she was such a good dog, she didn’t have to be on a leash) and run around the house, snorting the whole time. Her favorite treat was bologna. She was well fed but she wasn’t huge. She weighed 15lbs. Her nickname was Baby Beagle because she was tiny. I remember when she started getting sick. I remember yelling at her because she was peeing in the floor (something she never did) and then she just fell right over and started having a seizure. Turns out, she had cancer. When we first got her, the vet diagnosed her with a heart murmur so between that and the cancer, she was really sick. We had to have her put down on October 10, 2002. We had only had her 9 years and she was only 10 years old. The day was pure Hell on me. My mom was there when they euthanized her, holding her, but I couldn’t even be in the same room.

Maggie Louise
my super beagle

And now, we have Maggie Lousie. It was May 2006. I was recovered from my horrific year of being sick and having my surgeries. And I was like a 5 year old kid – I was begging my mother for another dog because I had seen “Louise” up on the county animal shelter’s website and instantly fell in love with her. We went out there to meet “Louise” in person and I was in love even farther. My mom was still kinda skeptical. Babe was still on her mind. We went to Kohl’s afterwards and I bugged the shit out of her the whole time. My dad was out of town on business (this is nothing new) and my mom kept saying, “well your father’s not here…” I called Daddy, told him what was going on and he was like, “whatever you guys want is fine with me.” Long story short, I finally convinced my mom and we headed back over to the shelter to make her ours. “Louise” is now known as Maggie Louise. And I still love her to this day. Even when she makes me want to pull my hair out because she is frustrating me. Maggie was 5 years or so old when we adopted her and she was a stray. A couple found her wandering around and took her in for a week but wasn’t able to keep her so Maggie’s background is totally unknown. We have an inside joke here in the family that she was a “circus dog”, that she preformed in the circus, got tired of it, and ran away. I didn’t used to like the joke that my dad came up with but now, I even join in on the jokes. Maggie isn’t really a lap dog or anything. She doesn’t like to get up on the furniture (although she does once in a blue moon), cuddle a lot, and she doesn’t know how to play. She doesn’t know what to do with rawhide bones either. We gave her one one time and she did not know what to do at all. She carried it from room to room in her mouth, “hiding” it (she just left it in the middle of the floor), and then finally, gave up and peed in the floor in the spare bedroom. She does not get along with other dogs at all. The hair stands up on her back from head to tail (she looks like a stegasaurus, no lie) and she makes the funniest noises, growling, and barking at them. She doesn’t speak for her food. Well, she does “speak” for her food…but it’s not verbally. She “signs” for her food. We tell her to “sit pretty” and she’ll sit up her paws like, “please?”

sittin pretty

Maggie is my pretty little girl. She’s a weird little dog but she’s my weird little dog. I am so glad that I begged and pleaded with my mom like a 5 year old for her.