Brownie

BROWNIE

Brownie was not my dog. She lived next door to me when I lived on McGee. She is the mother of Rocky, Duchess, Duke, Daisy, Junior, Boog-A-Loo, Jody, Buffy, Bear, Blondie, Tootsie, Snookum and Bo. She was, also, the mother of a huge number of puppies who I never named or to whom I never got close, except for Tippy and Lassie, both of whom got homes for at least a while.

She was a very good mother. Danny and I had many discussions and confrontations with her owners about the fact she was not spayed and they did not keep her inside when she was in heat. From 1977 until 1985, she had puppies twice a year with the exception of, perhaps, only one heat period.

She, also, came to realize who was taking care of her puppies. One time she had a litter of nine puppies and there was one that was clearly the runt. One evening I came home and she came running across her porch with something in her mouth. I thought she had killed a squirrel. She ran right up to me and laid her runt puppy at my feet. I told her that I would take care of it, although I already had a lot of dogs. Later, as I was eating dinner I heard the mother from next door ask her children what had happened to the runt puppy. I am not into confrontation, so I told the kids that I had the runt puppy.

A few days later, the kids were in their back yard and the heard the mother ask what they were doing. The reply was "Burying the runt puppy." Well, what can I say!! I made a mistake for the puppy, but I probably did the right thing for me and my dogs.