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Sandy
Somewhere around 1982, while I was still married, we were out on a shopping trip one day and someone was giving away a puppy. He had found the puppy locked up in a storage room in the apartment building where he lived. We all looked at her adoringly, but neither Jeryl nor I had much interest in having a dog. As we started to drive away, Jeryl suddenly suggested that we go ahead and take the dog. I was very surprised - I didn't think she'd have any interest in having a dog. It turned out later that she thought that I wanted the dog. So whatever the reason, we took Sandy and welcomed her into the family. Sandy had evidently been badly mistreated during her short life, and she was always a timid dog. 
One thing we were determined not to do was to have a dog who'd drive us crazy begging for food when we were eating. She wasn't allowed in the dining room while we were eating, and we never fed her from the table. When given treats, she would be given them outside. Soon Jeryl was breaking the rules a little bit by tossing her pieces of popcorn while watching TV, but by and large we stuck to the rules. One thanksgiving, we had taken the turkey out of the oven and were letting it cool for a few minutes before eating. Sandy found the temptation just a little too great. I found her standing by the door asking to go out - with a turkey drumstick in her mouth! She hadn't begun eating it - she knew her treats could only be eaten outside. I wasn't having much luck training Sandy, and finally enrolled her into an obedience school. I'm probably not the best teacher, but she did learn some of the basics. Cara later trained her further and showed her in the county fair a couple of years. She did quite well, and was invited to the state fair one year. When Jeryl and I divorced, Sandy remained with Jeryl and the kids. I saw her pretty often. But like dogs do, she eventually succombed to old age. |