Our Dogs, Our Life!
March 8th, 2009 by Bob LettermanWhen Susan and I met way back in 1965, I had a Dachshund named Droopy. We married in January, 1966 and our first acquisition was a beautiful black and tan German Shepherd named Apache. Dogs immediately became a major part of our life and continue to be so to this day. During our 43 years of marriage, we have had three German shepherds, two Cockapoos, three Dobermans and two Yorkies. This thread will be about our dogs. later, after I have had time to do some scanning, I will post oics of all our dogs. I will begin this post in 1991, when our oldest dog ever, Pyawackett, a cockapoo was 20 years old! She died in January 1992. In November of 1991, I had wanted a doberman all my life, so we bought a male puppy from one of the top kennels in America in Ohio. This is Susan and Warlock after he was fully grown. At 110 pounds and 33 inches at the shoulders, he looked more like a Great Dane!
Click on photos to enlarge.
Warlock could put his paws on Susan’s shoulders and look down at her! Three months later Susan had always wanted a Yorkie since she saw Suzanne Pleshette on the Bob Newhart Show with her Yorkie. So… we got a Yorkie. We called him Cagney because he was to spend his life with a giant doberman, James Cagney Letterman, little tough guy! Here he is being held by Dave Harper.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Cagney and Warlock were known to all who worked at or visited VLS. They had been walked on the streets of a great many American cities. They became company mascots. The door to my office was the dutch type, the top half left open so Warlock could see all the visitors. He would stand with his paws on the lower half and look down at everybody. Just his size alone scared people at first, he was such a sweetie that he won over everybody sooner or later. Because of his size, he only lived to 8 years. The Vets were surprised that he lived that long! The larger the dog, the shorter the life. Shortly after he died, we bought a female, Southern Star from a sister kennel. Her and Warlock had the same male, Running Bear, in their bloodline, who was a nationally known champion. When Warlock died, he had travelled to 47 states, Canada and Mexico. Cagney I had the same number under his belt. Here is Cagney I with Steve Hoard in his office.
Cagney made himself at home around VLS where ever he could find a place to curl up.
Journey’s Southern Star came into our life in November of 1999. She was most likely the most intelligent dog we had ever had up to that time. I fell in love with her the first time I laid eyes on her! She was absolutely gorgeous! She went 75 pounds, much smaller than Warlock.
On the many, many trips we took in our coaches, Star was always beside me. She loved to travel!
About 2004 we had this photo taken of Southern Star and Cagney I, and sent them out as Christmas cards.
Then, Rosemarian Kebbyman, an artist in her nineties, painted this portrait of Southern Star and Cagney I from the photograph.
Then, in June of 2007, Little Cagney died. He was 17 years old. Shortly after, we got another Yorkie. We were so used to the name and decided to call him Cagney II. He was six months old and six pounds when he arrived.
This is Cagney II at a year old with a puppy cut.
Shortly after this was taken Southern Star died of an ulcerated stomach ulcer.It hurt me more than any other dog I have owned. She was 3 months short of 10 years old.
We have learned over all these years that the best thing to ease the pain is another dog. We found a gorgeous mahogany dobe with a kennel name of Yellow girl that was 9 weeks old. Kennels put ribbons on the pups to distinguish them from one another. She had a yellow ribbon. She had been cropped and docked by the kennel. Two days later, the vet removed the stitches and we had our favorite breeder, Vickie Meadows, help us with the first posting. We decided to call the puppy Evening Star.
Cagney and Eastern Star were exactly the same size when we got her.11 pounds, (4.9 kilograms) and the same height.
This is Cagney at 2 years and Evening Star at 9 weeks old.
Eastern Star on Jan 20th, ‘09. Her ears are coming along nicely!
This was taken March 4th, 2009. She weighs 40 pounds. (Over 18 kilograms)
Compare these photos taken March 5th to those December 14th. Less than three months. This one on our driveway.
Compare to the first pics of Star and Cagney!
See why Cagney hides a lot!
The photomontages on the wall have all their photos except the Doberman and Yorkie we currently have.
The table has all their urns, their awards, photos and certificates.
Update, September 30th, 2009
Hi guys,
Here are some in-action pics of the dogs at the park yesterday. We are usually there for an hour every day and Star constantly runs. Her energy is immeasurable! I can’t believe she will be one year old on October 9th. I can see in her eyes how much she loves to do this1 Her favorite things are this, eating and laying on the sofa with her head in my lap and Cagney on the other side while we watch TV at night. The Cagmeister tries to keep up but it takes him 10 steps to her one. They have became inseparable. Cagney will be three January 11th. Click on images to enlarge.
Bob
To be continued…………
