The Saint's Childhood dogs

Hunting Dogs
TS's dad raised hunting dogs and trained them for other people. There were always dogs around when he was a kid.

One of his childhood stories is about being bit on the face by one of those dogs. His family had only had the dog a few days, and he was outside in the backyard alone with the dog, when it bit him. It nearly got his eye.
They rushed him to the emergency room, and he got stitches. He still has the scars, but they are faint. He never held it against the dog. His dad got rid of it right away - found someone who didn't have kids to take it.

Kim
hunting dog
Kim was a hunting dog, but she was also the family pet.

She was good with kids, and loved them.

When she was six, she developed a staff infection on one leg. TS's parents and the veterinarian tried everything possible to help her, but finally they ran out of options and had to put her to sleep. TSs mom had to take her down, his dad couldn't do it.

Buffy
cock-a-poo

Buffy was TS's ninth birthday present. She was a black cock-a-poo, but she looked like a pure-bred poodle. She was a good-natured dog. She loved kids.

One of the games she'd play with TS and his brother was chase the ice cube. They would close the door between the utility room and the kitchen. TS on one side, his brother on the other. They would slide an ice cube along the floor and she would chase it. When it disappeared, she'd wait for it to come back, bouncing back and forth. When she went left, the ice cube went right. TS loved her though, even though she was more his mom's dog. His mom was the one she followed around, and the one who fed her.

She would sleep with him at night though.

When TS and I got our wedding cats, Mischa and Shaun, she was their surroget mom. She allowed those kittens to lay on her, and to knead her, and to play with her.

She was a very good dog.

She also loved to look out the front window.

When she went blind, TS's mom felt she kind of lost the will to live.

TS's parents, like all the neighbors, allowed her to run at will.

It was a rural neighborhood back then.

She had the unfortunate accident of running under the car as TS's parents were returning home one night. I heard her go screaming through the backyard, and ran out.

She was injured.

TS's parents rushed her to the vet, but made the decision to have her euthanized due to her age and general condition (blind, thyroid was going.)

She was a very, very good dog.

Cindy
cock-a-pooh

Cindy was a short-term member of the family. TS's parents got her shortly after they got Buffy, but she was too wild.

On one occaision, she and Buffy covered the house in Toilet Paper.

I think one of TS's aunts took her.