A Boy and His Dogs - Revision history

Lorensen at 19:23, 21 January 2016

2016-01-21T19:23:06Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:23, 21 January 2016
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	Ikie (Ike), was the only pure bred we ever owned. Mom won him on a		Ikie (Ike), was the only pure bred we ever owned. Mom won him on a
	local TV show called "The Sheriff of Cactus County." He was a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocker_Spaniel Cocker		local TV show called "The Sheriff of Cactus County." He was a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocker_Spaniel Cocker Spaniel] and his registered name was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower "Dwight David Eisenhower"].
	Spaniel] and his registered name was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower "Dwight David Eisenhower"].

	Patches was the last dog I remember. She was a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongrel mongrel]. Patches was		Patches was the last dog I remember. She was a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongrel mongrel]. Patches was

Lorensen at 19:18, 21 January 2016

2016-01-21T19:18:40Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:18, 21 January 2016
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	expense, but our dogs were family.		expense, but our dogs were family.

	Back to Candy. Why my was she favorite? She was "my" first dog. At		Back to Candy. Why was she favorite? She was "my" first dog. At
	six, I was old enough to appreciate her loyalty and I could take some		six, I was old enough to appreciate her loyalty and I could take some
	responsibility for her. Mom would probably not have agreed that I took		responsibility for her. Mom would probably not have agreed that I took

Lorensen at 16:40, 20 December 2012

2012-12-20T16:40:46Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:40, 20 December 2012
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			<div class="floatright"><span>[[Image:ABoyAndHisDogs.png\|512px]]</span></div>
	Growing up in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansingburgh,_New_York the Burgh], we always had dogs. Most of my friends had		Growing up in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansingburgh,_New_York the Burgh], we always had dogs. Most of my friends had
	dogs.		dogs.

Lorensen at 21:52, 16 December 2012

2012-12-16T21:52:29Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:52, 16 December 2012
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	Growing up in the Burgh, we always had dogs. Most of my friends had		Growing up in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansingburgh,_New_York the Burgh], we always had dogs. Most of my friends had
	dogs.		dogs.

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	Ikie (Ike), was the only pure bred we ever owned. Mom won him on a		Ikie (Ike), was the only pure bred we ever owned. Mom won him on a
	local TV show called "The Sheriff of Cactus County." He was a Cocker		local TV show called "The Sheriff of Cactus County." He was a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocker_Spaniel Cocker
	Spaniel and his registered name was "Dwight David Eisenhower".		Spaniel] and his registered name was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower "Dwight David Eisenhower"].

	Patches was the last dog I remember. She was a mongrel. Patches was		Patches was the last dog I remember. She was a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongrel mongrel]. Patches was
	alive after I married and my kids knew and loved her.		alive after I married and my kids knew and loved her.

Lorensen at 21:22, 16 December 2012

2012-12-16T21:22:00Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:22, 16 December 2012
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	~~== A Boy and His Dogs ==~~


	Growing up in the Burgh, we always had dogs. Most of my friends had		Growing up in the Burgh, we always had dogs. Most of my friends had
	dogs.		dogs.

Lorensen at 21:21, 16 December 2012

2012-12-16T21:21:25Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:21, 16 December 2012
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	A Boy and His Dogs		== A Boy and His Dogs ==


	Growing up in the Burgh, we always had dogs. Most of my friends had		Growing up in the Burgh, we always had dogs. Most of my friends had
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	Prince's tail, throwing out my baseball cards and... Candy.		Prince's tail, throwing out my baseball cards and... Candy.

	Bill Lorensen, Lansingburgh '64		''Bill Lorensen, Lansingburgh '64''

Lorensen: New page: A Boy and His Dogs Growing up in the Burgh, we always had dogs. Most of my friends had dogs. The first dog I remember was Prince. Prince was a mix of German Shepard and something else. M...

2012-12-16T21:17:00Z

New page: A Boy and His Dogs Growing up in the Burgh, we always had dogs. Most of my friends had dogs. The first dog I remember was Prince. Prince was a mix of German Shepard and something else. M...

New page

A Boy and His Dogs

Growing up in the Burgh, we always had dogs. Most of my friends had
dogs.

The first dog I remember was Prince. Prince was a mix of German
Shepard and something else. Mom ran over his tail with the car. He
lived a long life, but with a much a shorter tail.

Ikie (Ike), was the only pure bred we ever owned. Mom won him on a
local TV show called "The Sheriff of Cactus County." He was a Cocker
Spaniel and his registered name was "Dwight David Eisenhower".

Patches was the last dog I remember. She was a mongrel. Patches was
alive after I married and my kids knew and loved her.

But my favorite dog was Candy. Her breed combination was unknown. I
can still see her as a medium sized dog, reddish brown. She loved me
and I loved her. There was that unconditional love between a dog and
her owner.

Like many other Burgers, we let our dogs run. They roamed Lansingburgh
during the day and came home at night for food, comfort and human
companionship. There were some nights they didn't come home, but
eventually they got hungry, and missed us, and came home. Of course
sometimes they didn't come home: falling victim to a car, a fight with
another animal, or maybe they just found a better place to live.

Prince, Candy and Patches "disappeared". But Ikie did not runaway nor
fall victim to nature. He had a pedigree and was apparently smart
enough to stay close to home. I'm pretty sure we did not let him roam
the way we did our mixed breeds. Ikie had heart problems and lived
with us until he died. I remember the vet prescribed digitalis. As any
pet owner knows, you do what every you can to keep a family member
alive. For a blue collar family in the Burgh, this was a considerable
expense, but our dogs were family.

Back to Candy. Why my was she favorite? She was "my" first dog. At
six, I was old enough to appreciate her loyalty and I could take some
responsibility for her. Mom would probably not have agreed that I took
full responsibility, but Candy was "my" dog. She followed me
everywhere. Down to the Whipple School field to play, playing in the
yard and participating in our street games.

I lived 1/2 block north of Whipple School. Every morning Candy and I
walked that 1/2 block to school, and she waited with me for the
opening of the doors. When school was over, Candy was there to walk
home with me. She knew that we could spend some quality time
together. I'm not sure what she did while I was in school, but I never
really thought about that.

One day, when school finished, I went outside and there was no one to
greet me. This had never happened before. I can't recall how old I was
when this happened, but, I do remember that Candy was not there.

I went home upset. Mom and Nana (she lived with us), assured me that
Candy had probably just wandered off on an adventure and would return
that evening.

I went to bed, still no Candy. In the morning, no Candy.

After a few days, the story changed. Candy was probably sick and
wandered off to die. Or perhaps she was hit by a car. Or fell victim
to one of the other fatal conclusions that afflicted the other
free-running dogs in the Burgh.

It wasn't long after losing Candy that we got another dog. I forget
the dog chronology, but the next dog was probably Ike. And my grief
subsided. Candy became a part of my past. I still remembered her and
the fun we had together, but my attention turned to our new pets and
to growing up.

Fast forward twenty years or so. Terri, the kids and I were visiting
Mom and Dad at the 4th Avenue homestead, 1/2 block north of Whipple
School. We were reminiscing about the dogs we had as I grew up. When
the discussion turned to Candy, I described to the kids how Candy was
my favorite. I talked about how she met me every day after school. I
described our time together, probably embellishing the relationship a
bit. I told them about the day that Candy wasn't there to meet me.

Dad, laying on the couch, said "Elsie, you better tell him". "Bill,
shut up!", she replied.

A long family secret was about to be revealed. As it turns out, Candy
did not run away. Nor was she sick. Nor was she hit by a car.

One day, while I was at school, Candy bit the mailman. Mom took her to
the vet and had her put down.

Until the day she died, I sometimes reminded Mom about running over
Prince's tail, throwing out my baseball cards and... Candy.

Bill Lorensen, Lansingburgh '64