Brutus the Wonder Dog

 I guess I'm feeling a little down today.  Hubby is at the cabin, Kayle went to a photo shoot all day, came home long enough to wash the theatrical makeup off and change clothes and she was off with Nick for the night.  I couild have gone to camp with Bruce, he keeps asking me to go, but I guess I just haven't reached a point where I'm comfortable leaving home for more than a quick run to the neighborhood grocery store...and that's only if I have no other choice,

Anyway, I just started thinking about my beloved dog Brutus.  Since Bruce and I were too old to have our own children, he with 2, me with 3, we talked about getting a dog.  One day we got a call from his cousin who lives in the next town over telling us that her German Shepherd Hallie had puppies.  11 of them
 
She has papers and they always thought they might breed her down the line, but it seems that somebody else got to her first- a lab/shar pei cross that belonged to a neighbor.  Well too late to do anything about it, she offered us a puppy so we packed the kids in the car and drove over.  We picked out a little square headed pup with shepherd markings and way too much skin.  His cousin told us he was found outside (in January) and they had thought he was dead, but put him under the heat lamps and he seemed to come around.    Friends of ours Hoyt and Maryann also picked a puppy for their daughter Megan, and they named her Penny.  As the dogs grew older they grew as different in looks as if they weren't even from the same littler.  Brutus picked up the coloring of the shepherd, and the head and skin of a sharpei.  Penny looked exactly like a black lab.

Brutus was always a very easy going dog, didn't bark, didn't mind little kids mauling him and went everywhere with us.  On the sailboat on our excursions to Port Dahlousie and our weekends at our camp in the Adirondack mountains.  But when we were home, he could always be found lying at my feet.  No matter where I was, on the computer, in the living room, in bed, that dog was always right there beside me.

Brutus was my heart, and I miss him so much.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of him or look at his 'baby book' and remember his puppy days and the joy he brought to our family.

 

This is the last picture we have of him.  Kayle would often walk him over to the state park so he could run on the beach and play in the water.

Rest in Peace My Angel, I'll see you again.

Lily (short for Lily Munster from the dramatic widow's peak markings on h er face) was picked up by our local shelter as a stray. I'm guessin now, that we've had her a month she has settled down somewhat, although she is still full of that puppy exuberance that is hard to tame down. After 2 accidents on the floor, she now goes to the front door and patiently waits and if someone doens't appear to be paying attention, then she jumps up on the back of my chair, letting out little breathy yips, just in case the claws on the chair are not enough of a clue that she wants out.

Once out, on a leash of course, she sniffs around, squats to pee an just when you think she sniffing to prepare for round 2, a distant barking dog, or a misplaced garbage can at the curb will immediately derail her from her mission.

The spca staff told us she was a german shepherd cross.....I suppose I can see it, sort of, but she definitely has terrier in her. Had I know about the terrier side, I'm not sure she would have been my first choice for our family. I am not that active and she really needs an active family to take her for walks and play with her.

She crate trained righ from the start, with nary a peep, she seems happy, if not bored and is affectionate with us, so it gives me hope. As does her looks, she's kind of hard to resist