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Boz
In 1971, I was sharing a house with Ed while working on my master's degree. Ed decided he'd like to have a dog, and one day he came home with a mutt puppy. We both grew very attached to her quickly. Ed took a long time coming up with a name for her, and in the meantime I was calling her "Muttley." Ed didn't care for it when he saw her responding to that name, so he gave her the name "Boz," short for Bozeman. Boz was a pretty skittish dog. She didn't get out of town much - Ed never took her with him when he went places. This picture was taken when she was four or five, and was her very first time out of town. At first she was quite worried about the experience and stuck very close to us. As the day went on (this was a 9-mile hike), she finally became a bit braver and really enjoyed her hike! Not too terribly long after we got Boz, I decided I was tired of sharing a house with another person and found a house of my own. When Ed would leave town as he did frequently, he never bothered to make arrangements with anyone for Boz's care. He just put a big bowl of dog food out, and tossed Boz outside. The yard wasn't fenced in, and Boz was free to roam where she pleased. 
Eventually Boz got herself knocked up and had a large batch of puppies. They were really cute puppies (aren't they all?), and no two were even remotely alike. Boz was a terrible mother. She'd tolerate them suckling for awhile, then would shoo them away and have nothing to do with them. I used to drop by and visit frequently while the puppies were there. Ed was sure I was going to take one of them, but I really didn't want to be tied down to taking care of a dog much as I like them. And I just don't feel it's fair to a dog to leave it alone for hours every day like I'd have to. I came close to taking one (my favorite was the white one with the brown head - the bottom picture below), but I was glad when Ed found homes for all of them and I was no longer tempted. 
As I said, Ed always left Boz to fare for herself when he was out of town. I was living just a few blocks away. One day, Boz encountered me while I was walking home, and she followed me home. Once she knew where I lived, she kept coming around whenever Ed was out of town - and often even when he was home. If Ed was gone, I'd of course let her in and would keep her fed. If Ed was home, I'd take her there and try to get her to stay - but she'd usually be back soon. I'd leave her outside when Ed was home, hoping she'd stop coming around. Eventually, Ed returned from one of his trips and Boz was nowhere to be found. I had been out of town myself, so she hadn't been able to get into my house either. We never saw Boz again. |