Sunday, March 29, 2009

Pet Dogs of the Past

My Dad has recently undergone a heart operation and it has got me thinking about how quickly we age and all that stuff. It's interesting how much times have changed and people's pets seem to be reflecting those changes also. Back when my Dad was young....back in the late 1950's he got himself a dog. He named the dog "Shane" and he was a German Shepherd.

Shane was a beautiful dog with a gentle nature. Our Dad loved him.

Here's a photo of our Mom with Shane, (with one of her brothers as well).
Sadly, Shane died of cancer and didn't live a long life.
We also lost Mom to cancer 15 years ago.

The next dog my parents got was "Duffy". He was a Shetland Sheepdog, but he wasn't as good natured as Shane and always tried to "herd" us kids. That's me as a baby in the photo. Duffy was eventually given away to a new home.

The dog I have the best memories of was "Ginger". She was a Lhasa Apso and we got her when I was about 12 years old. I'm probably 14 in this photo. We used to do silly things with her, like put sunglasses on her. She was a cute dog, but she could be somewhat aloof when she wanted to be.....unless you had food...then she'd hang around until you gave her some.
She ended up dying of a heart attack when she was around 14 years old.

Now this dog is "Molly". She's a Bichon Frise. In this photo my son was just a baby. He's 11 years old now!
Molly is owned by my Dad and stepmom. But I don't think Molly's going to be around much longer....she's around 14 years old...and has some breathing problems.

Well, I hope this post wasn't too boring.....I guess I did it more for myself than anyone.

6 comments:

Willy Ashworth said...

Hi Suzanne

I found this post to be sweet, and very touching.

What years were these taken?

Suzanne Dargie said...

I'll have to try and figure them out. I recall my Dad telling us Shane only lived around six years and I know he was still alive when my brother was a baby, so those photos were probably taken around 1957.
With Duffy would be around the beginning of 1965 because it was at Christmas.
I was 14 in the photo with Ginger, so that one would have been 1978.

When my son was a baby would have been around 1997.

el pancake said...

so sweet...but what about all your other pets over the years(rats and things)?

Suzanne Dargie said...

Uh oh....now I'll have to dig out THOSE photos!

the doodlers said...

Fantastic post. What a series of time capsules! Your dad and Shane seem like they were a good pair. Duffy looks so sad in the photo. The picture of you and Ginger is such a sweet shot.

Suzanne Dargie said...

Thanks so much for visiting! I thought maybe people would find this post boring because it isn't art related.....but I was wrong!
I'll have to dig out MORE old photos to post now.