Your first dog?

[Tinkerbee]

Okay, so we've had the intros to all the current dogs (I loved reading everyone's posts, all the personalities came through so well!), so to ease my lockdown boredom, tell me about your first/old dogs? Pics would as always be a bonus

Not my dog, but my grandmother's Cairn x Jack Russell, Bobby, and eventual mother of my own Tinkerdog. Grew up with her, sparked my love for a scruffy terrier, and my grandmother would wheel us down the lane in a barrow, as we both ate blackberries from the hedges. She had a daily mug of tea (milk and one sugar ) and had perfected the three legged terrier skip....




This is Poppy (white dog), who was supposedly a Pomeranian...but I think they played fast and loose with breed definitions in Sri Lanka My first dog of my own, she was absolutely insane, but I was completely besotted with having a dog of my own, and would always pester my dad to drive us into the city park to show her off , blazing sun, 30+ degree heat and dripping humidity, and rope burns from the extendable lead...! Great craic!. Bonus pic of Brownie the compound "guard dog" , 8 year old me loved to pass the time removing ticks and God knows what else....


And here's Tink, generic terrier, please note the baler twin collar and general dragged through a hedge appearance, chances are, we are fresh from a hedge. She was my shadow across bog and moor and woodland for 16 years, 13 year old me was convinced we would master agility, doggy dancing and we entered every agricultural dog show going, she had an impressive (pest) kill list, and took no nonsense.


As you can see, I have also favoured a heavy fringe over the years, and its taking all my willpower to not give myself a lockdown haircut....!

 

[P3LH]

My first own proper dog was the now long gone ‘Polly’. I had been very resolute aged eight when for Christmas I requested not a fluffy puppy but a rescue dog (animal hospital played a role here) so the flllowing January (after receiving an IOU for Christmas for said rescue dog) we spent time trawling rescue centres.

In a family who’d had Stafford’s and Doberman’s I don’t think they were too keen on my choice as I crouched down by her kennel and was quite resolute, ‘it has to be her’.

She was a Jack Russell cross unknown. Our vet always felt the unknown was Corgi, which is probably why all these years later I have a corgi snoring in my living room (and it had to be a tri!)—having owned one now id say the vet was probably right.

She was a nightmare really. Nowadays I doubt she’d have been rehomed. She bit first and asked questions later, but never with me....which I’ve always found intriguing. I could do anything with her and she would ‘smile and wave’ but others could barely walk past her.

The centre told us she was 18 months old and had been taken as part of a cruelty case from a farm. Our vet upon meeting her once she came home estimated her to be more likely six, and within a year of owning her she started to go grey. It wasn’t an issue, but I do wish we’d had more time together.

She didn’t like people wearing dark coloured clothes. She hated border collies. She didn’t really like the car and the vets would sigh in dread anytime we had to make an appointment.

She was fiercely protective of me, not even letting my parents get too close. She could scale a six foot fence and every day would escape and go off ratting in the woods at the back of our house, always being on the doorstep for 2:45 when my mum was ready to come get me from school so I was told (it sounds like something out of a film but was very real!). She never needed a lead. She’d fight with her own shadow if she could. She was quite bad tempered with most people, but to me she was my childhood best friend. We had many adventures together and she was just always ‘there’.

She then in turn was the greatest method of birth control/prevention of early teenage pregnancy as every girl I dated at school was terrified of her (she was quite scary really!) she could do more with a withering stare than Bette Davies and to the day she died people always knew when they were crossing the line. I’m not sure HOW our family didn’t bury her alive really, she really was a nightmare—but I adored her.

She was completel doting and took me from being a lanky young boy who spent his days trapsing fields with her with a backpack full of jars of frog spawn and weird things I’d found in the woods (parental supervision clearly wasn’t a thing in my household...) through to an awkward teenager.

She spent most her life killing things yet mothered every feral kitten I brought home, every rabbit and Guinea pig we had (though she probably polished the odd one off on the side and it was hidden from me) and was just an all round great dog.

We had eight years together. I was 16 when she died which given our vets estimation made her probably around 13/14. She had lots go wrong with her towards the end of her life, lumps and bumps, problems with her heart, and then incontinence issues—but she’d always bounce back.

She begat flo, the brindle scruff in the photo. They shared the last 18 months of her life together and I think she kept her going. This walk was only a few months, maybe two or three, before she died, like I say she’d always bounce back and do ok just when you’d think it was time. Then she suffered a stroke, and that was it. The vet home visited but she died as she lived, and wouldn’t go down without a fight—the vet could barely get near her even though she could barely move and already had one paw on the way to whatever lies ahead. So we had to take her to the surgery to have a sedative before going on her way.
I couldn’t have her ashes or collar and lead back. She’s the only one I haven’t and yet she was the most special to me, I’ve never understood the logic there but I just couldn’t.

I don’t think i cried that much when my father died just a few months later. She was incredibly special.


For Christmas a few years ago my Mum had a beautiful photograph of her framed by an artist friend of mine and other half’s. The frame has engraved in it something my nephew always has said about me since he was small ‘when you go, you’ll go wherever the dogs go, so you always have something to follow around fields and so you’ll never be lost’. It takes pride and place in my study.


She will always hold an incredibly special place in my heart, and lives on in a million and one anecdotes. As you can probably tell, even all these years later and I still think of her a lot.

 

[CMcC]

I got my first dog when I was 17 from Battersea Dogs Home. She was a tiny black puppy and she spent the journey home on the tube down the sleeve of my coat. Had no idea what to call her until she looked at me and told me her name was Dilys.

She was probably only 6 weeks old and got very sick and cost my mother a fortune at the vet. In return Dilys was devoted to my mum.

She came with me when I left home. I had no idea of her breeding but kids use to stop in the street and point at “Spit the Dog”.
Eventually I met some other dogs that looked a bit like her and she was revealed to be a Lurcher. I used to get stopped by a certain type of gentleman who who said Bedlington Whippet to me and walkEd on. My life long love of lurchers began and the tradition of Lurcher names all beginning with D.

Unfortunately Dilys ruined me for future dog training as she didn’t need training, I just spoke to her and she understood.

She lived until she was 18 and the memory of her being PTS can still make me cry.

 

[ihatework]

Milo, I had him put down just before lockdown aged 14. Just a super dog - I hadn’t been planning on getting a dog but was talked into it at the time by my yard owner who bred him, he was the last one left of a big litter. Missing him terribly.

 

[Tinkerbee]

My first own proper dog was the now long gone ‘Polly’. I had been very resolute aged eight when for Christmas I requested not a fluffy puppy but a rescue dog (animal hospital played a role here) so the flllowing January (after receiving an IOU for Christmas for said rescue dog) we spent time trawling rescue centres.
...

She will always hold an incredibly special place in my heart, and lives on in a million and one anecdotes. As you can probably tell, even all these years later and I still think of her a lot.

Oh this is a lovely story! She sounds such a character, what a lovely childhood you had with her

 

[Tinkerbee]

I got my first dog when I was 17 from Battersea Dogs Home. She was a tiny black puppy and she spent the journey home on the tube down the sleeve of my coat. Had no idea what to call her until she looked at me and told me her name was Dilys.

She was probably only 6 weeks old and got very sick and cost my mother a fortune at the vet. In return Dilys was devoted to my mum.

She came with me when I left home. I had no idea of her breeding but kids use to stop in the street and point at “Spit the Dog”.
Eventually I met some other dogs that looked a bit like her and she was revealed to be a Lurcher. I used to get stopped by a certain type of gentleman who who said Bedlington Whippet to me and walkEd on. My life long love of lurchers began and the tradition of Lurcher names all beginning with D.

Unfortunately Dilys ruined me for future dog training as she didn’t need training, I just spoke to her and she understood.

She lived until she was 18 and the memory of her being PTS can still make me cry.

Dilys sounds so lovely! I also seem to have started on the "terriers with T name" route, loving the Lurchers with a D

 

[Tinkerbee]

Milo, I had him put down just before lockdown aged 14. Just a super dog - I hadn’t been planning on getting a dog but was talked into it at the time by my yard owner who bred him, he was the last one left of a big litter. Missing him terribly.View attachment 46062

What a lovely kind face They leave such a hole in your heart don't they x

 

[blackcob]

No prizes for guessing the year. ? This was Sadie (I think, bit too young to remember properly). She was followed by Spike the bow-legged JRT whom I don't appear to have any photos of sadly. He endured lots of trick training and garden agility with good grace, seldom wore a lead and was a fiercely loyal, funny little dog. Then came the Dax E. Dog!

 

[dogatemysalad]

My first dog as an adult, was a collie/lab/boxer type mongrel from the RSPCA renamed Finn. I wasn't looking for a dog, but had gone with a friend who was looking for a cat. While I was waiting, a hulk of a man brought in a puppy. He was crying because his marriage had broken down and he'd moved into a flat so couldn't keep him anymore.
I took one look at the shaking little scrap and immediately knew that he had to be my dog. I've never experienced such an overwhelming reaction before or since. Before the previous owner had filled out the paperwork, I'd claimed him, subject to a home visit. The staff laughed and said, that was the shortest stay a dog had ever had.
Finn was the love of my life from the moment I saw him until the day he died. Miss him so much even after all these years.

 

[Tinkerbee]

No prizes for guessing the year. ? This was Sadie (I think, bit too young to remember properly). She was followed by Spike the bow-legged JRT whom I don't appear to have any photos of sadly. He endured lots of trick training and garden agility with good grace, seldom wore a lead and was a fiercely loyal, funny little dog. Then came the Dax E. Dog!

View attachment 46063

This is an iconic outfit and dog combo! Well played.

 

[Tinkerbee]

My first dog as an adult, was a collie/lab/boxer type mongrel from the RSPCA renamed Finn. I wasn't looking for a dog, but had gone with a friend who was looking for a cat. While I was waiting, a hulk of a man brought in a puppy. He was crying because his marriage had broken down and he'd moved into a flat so couldn't keep him anymore.
I took one look at the shaking little scrap and immediately knew that he had to be my dog. I've never experienced such an overwhelming reaction before or since. Before the previous owner had filled out the paperwork, I'd claimed him, subject to a home visit. The staff laughed and said, that was the shortest stay a dog had ever had.
Finn was the love of my life from the moment I saw him until the day he died. Miss him so much even after all these years.

What serendipitous timing! Lucky pup (and you!)

 

[CorvusCorax]

Always had family dogs and my Mum's dog when I was born wouldn't let anyone near me, including my father

The bitch I had between the ages of about 3-17 (she died at 14) would be what I describe as my first dog. She was bought as a show prospect but broke a front leg young in a road accident and had it pinned/couldn't flex it properly so that was the end of that.

She was from old German herding lines on her motherline. Fantastic temperament in that she was totally bombproof and loved people and could go anywhere but was a bit iffy with other females, including my Mum's old bitch, they used to fight badly so she was sent back to the breeder for a litter in the hope it would mellow her. It did not, the sire wasn't our choice and all the pups were landsharks, we took one but ended up rehoming her as she was too full on.
She was mated to a super dog for the second litter but there were complications and none of the pups made it.

She converted a lot of people who were Scared of Allasayshuns, humoured me while I dragged her round various children's handling/BVA/Veterans classes/tried to 'train' her and she accompanied me on all sorts of adventures. She had totally clear hips, which was a rarity in those days, I still have her score sheet, the vet wrote VERY NICE! at the bottom of it.
If I was out playing with my friends, she would always be there too.
I never, to this day, am scared to go anywhere at whatever time of the day or night, because I have always had a big dog with me.

She lost a tooth chewing a brick and nearly died aged 11 after taking a pyometra and swallowing two pairs of tights
She was a terrible thief and would nick a sandwich straight out of your hand if you looked the other way for a moment.
She ADORED my Nan and loved going to her house and would start howling the moment we turned into her road. Even though my Nan had had so many dogs, she had to go through 20 names to get the right one.
She loved the kids' roundabout at the park and would strain on the leash to get there and when released run straight to it and jump up on it and wait for you to come and push her.
She was scared of my dad - she jumped up on him when she was a pup and he shouted at her and she never forgot it, she used to slink off to her kennel when she saw him, he tried to make it up to her but it never worked.
My uncle and she would converse in the language of 'wow'. He had a lovely bass tone she liked the sound of.
And being grey....the hair. My God, the hair....

Despite being fat and having a metal rod in her front leg, she stayed sound until the beginnings of DM. My mother had let the old bitch linger to the point where she had to be carried around and had never forgiven herself, so the first day I saw her struggling to get up I told Mum and she called the vet who'd known and treated her since she was a pup (he and my Mum were at school together) and let her wander in reception whenever she had to be kept in.
He came to the house, I gave her a custard cream in the garden and said goodbye and that was that. She's buried on his family farm.

I have compared every dog I've had to her since and named one of my current two after her, sort of!! The younger one reminds me very much of her in looks and character.

 

[CinnamonChristmasCookie]

I don’t have any pictures, which I must rectify when I’m allowed to mum’s. Noot was a Keeshond, my dad’s choice because he spent a lot of his childhood living with a family who had them as guard dogs on a big estate. Typical barky Keesy, he was terrified of fireworks and ran away lots. He landed up at the police station one day, barked to be let in. He terrified the milkman who thought he was a wolf and one morning, when he’d again escaped, he waited at the front door. When the milkman arrived, going round the right angle of the very long path, Noot let fly. The milk also went flying as the milkman sprinted off screaming.

He was very protective of us and always lay by prams. He was a great dog to grow up with and the only reason I didn’t get one as an adult was the coat maintenance. I’d be very tempted in the future. I saw a litter recently on Pets4Homes, weirdly, so tempting.

Generic picture that looks very like him.

 

[Tinkerbee]

Oh I love all these stories, (I'm not crying YOURE crying)

 

[Tinkerbee]

I think it's particularly their different personalities but also the time of life I had them both, I have very different relationships with Tink and Ted.

I always feel that Tink was like a best friend/sister you could go on endless adventures with (she would be off on hunting trips for days at a time and I'd just shrug, she'll be back ), you'd get up to all sorts and never tell on each other, cuddles were very much on her terms, it felt like an end of an era when she died.

Whereas Ted is very much like a child I am paranoid about letting out of my sight for even ten minutes, and I post endless photos of him looking cute/doing very mundane activities (look hes sitting in his toy basket ) and I drag him on holidays/walks that I think I enjoy more than him

 

[splashgirl45]

the first dog i remember was sally a scottie, she was the family dog and i was very young when she died and i cant really remember much, , we didnt have a family dog for a while but when i was about 8 i really wanted a dog and had been asking for ages. my parents took me to petticoat lane in london , for those younger people this was a street market and they sold puppies. i was allowed to pick which one i wanted and chose a black and tan bitch who had managed to get back to me after she had been moved to the other side of the pen..i called her lassie (used to watch the lassie films on tv) but she was nothing like a collie, she was more like a small whippet/terrier..i used to walk miles with her and was heartbroken when she was PTS. she was a bit of a food thief,and stole the sunday dinner joint off the worktop when mum had left it to rest. she was not popular!!! the only pic i have got is when she was very old and the photo is in black and while that shows how long ago it was..

 

[Tinkerbee]

I'm enjoying 8 years old being a widely cited age for the first dog, is that how long parents can hold out for? Are you particularly insistent at that age?

 

[splashgirl45]

i had been going on about a dog for years before and also about horseriding. they gave in at 8 for the dog but held out till i was 11 for the horseriding lessons, they never bought me a pony though had to wait till i had saved up enough after going to work so was 21 before i managed to get a car and a horse...and all my money then disappeared!!!!!

 

[P3LH]

I'm enjoying 8 years old being a widely cited age for the first dog, is that how long parents can hold out for? Are you particularly insistent at that age?

There were dogs here before there was a me but shock horror—I didn’t like them all that much! One did knock my front teeth out by knocking me over so I guess I had just cause.

My parents tell me I was actually a cat person (I still have cats too!) when small and it was my grandparents rough collie (they always had roughs or x roughs) who really made me into a dog lover. Their second in my lifetime, their first who was a geriatric when I came along, I was not a fan of as he would herd me everywhere and I was never able to get in to any form of mischief with him around—as he’s materialise and bark until my Nan would appear and discover what I was up too. He was the fun police in fur. I then in turn wanted a dog I could walk and look after that was really ‘mine’, there was an irony that as a child I then ended up with a dog who really was mine as would have eaten anyone else.

Many years later I suppose it’s why I went for my rough boys—predictable and steady (at that point life was anything but so they were necessary anchors) I am an irritating creature of habit I guess. Though there are lots of breeds that I would one day like to own and I wouldn’t say I’m particularly breed loyal, and I like a ‘mix’ of them in my pack as feel they all bring something different to life. I loved my terriers a lot, but I don’t miss waiting by rabbit holes for hours or dealing with dead things!

 

[Penny Less]

Our first dog cost 10 shillings (50p) he lived to 17, He was a bitsa but with some spaniel. OH used to take him wildfowling
a friend used to sleep on our lounge floor the night before they went and O'Mally would lie on his chest all night to make sure they didnt go without him ! Whenever we saw old friends they always remembered the dog. We got him i n 1970 and since then have only been without a dog for 6 weeks

 

[DabDab]

I'm enjoying 8 years old being a widely cited age for the first dog, is that how long parents can hold out for? Are you particularly insistent at that age?

I got a hamster for my 10th birthday and remember thinking that I must be the luckiest girl in the world. Despite asking for a pet for, well pretty much since I could talk, my parents had obviously done a stellar job of shielding me from the fact that other kids did have pets in the house ?. Though I do remember knowing that dogs were only for kids whose mummies didn't work.

 

[Penny Less]

Dogs are the best invention ever !

 

[Tinkerbee]

Many years later I suppose it’s why I went for my rough boys—predictable and steady (at that point life was anything but so they were necessary anchors) I am an irritating creature of habit I guess. Though there are lots of breeds that I would one day like to own and I wouldn’t say I’m particularly breed loyal, and I like a ‘mix’ of them in my pack as feel they all bring something different to life. I loved my terriers a lot, but I don’t miss waiting by rabbit holes for hours or dealing with dead things!

Oh the endless rabbit hole waiting....and trying to memorise which one it was whilst I dashed up the field to get someone to dig them out

 

[P3LH]

Oh the endless rabbit hole waiting....and trying to memorise which one it was whilst I dashed up the field to get someone to dig them out

Very familiar. Polly was once stuck down a fox earth for 30 hours. Well she was missing for thirty hours and found down said hole thirty hours later and was well and truly rooted so it’s very possible.

Flo the brindle girl once was deemed a lost cause as went into a known active badger sett after running off on a walk in pursuit of a muntjac. I still don’t know how she got out alive (barring a wound on her under jaw which she wore the scar with pride well into her old age) There was lots of noise and barking and grumbling, then just over an hour later she trundled out looking like a bouncer who’d just been in a scuffle.

Such characters, but I’m not sure I could do it again! He says with a corgi who picks and chooses when to listen!

 

[{97702}]

Lol well where do I start.... there have always been dogs around ?

Firstly there were boxers.... Jodie (in the picture) and Susie a brindle.... although obviously they weren’t mine, they were my mums


Then when I was 10 or 11 my mum moved to cavaliers.... and we had loads of them! I was ‘given’ a little tricolour cavalier to have as ‘mine’ but really she was still my mums dog.... I did love her though!



But I always wanted a ‘proper’ dog of my own! So somewhat later in life than everyone else, I finally wore down my mum by incessant nagging and I got my first whippet, Isobel, when I was 17. I absolutely adored her, she was everything to me.... we had many happy years together before I lost her due to heart failure when she was a month short of her 15th birthday



And then there was Sian (whippet), Macallan (lurcher), Jura (greyhound), Talisker (lurcher), Port Ellen (greyhound), Islay (greyhound), Flick (greyhound), Amy (lurcher), Hoover (greyhound), Millie (lurcher), Marty (greyhound), Ace (greyhound) and George (terrier) ?

I think that’s all of them.... ???

 

[CorvusCorax]

Though I do remember knowing that dogs were only for kids whose mummies didn't work.

No one told my Mummy ?

As someone else mentioned it, my dog was a splatter also. She'd run up, knock me over with one paw and run away again. I have a bump on my nostril that looks like a nose stud, from her whacking me in the face when I was little. ?
I remember climbing up on the back of the sofa to get away from her

 

[Tinkerbee]

Very familiar. Polly was once stuck down a fox earth for 30 hours. Well she was missing for thirty hours and found down said hole thirty hours later and was well and truly rooted so it’s very possible.

Flo the brindle girl once was deemed a lost cause as went into a known active badger sett after running off on a walk in pursuit of a muntjac. I still don’t know how she got out alive (barring a wound on her under jaw which she wore the scar with pride well into her old age) There was lots of noise and barking and grumbling, then just over an hour later she trundled out looking like a bouncer who’d just been in a scuffle.

Such characters, but I’m not sure I could do it again! He says with a corgi who picks and chooses when to listen!

We once left Dougal (I do not claim him...my sisters problem....) down a fox hole and had to get the boat back to England (he'd been awol 48 hrs at that stage), cue many tears from my sister, and a sigh of relief from the rest of the household (and most of England). Luckily (?!) he reappeared at my grandparents doorstep another 24 hrs later, a bit skinnier, angrier, and more fool my poor father, took a trip up to Scotland to collect him as a foot passenger off the boat a few weeks later

 

[DabDab]

No one told my Mummy ?

Haha, well two of my working aunts having a dog was explained away because one had just found the dog (along the canal in Camden, hence he was inventively called Camden), and couldn't find his owner so they had to keep him, and the other lived in Switzerland where you can take dogs anywhere so it's different (she had a great dane so I'm pretty sure she wasnt taking him to work with her) ?

 

[CorvusCorax]

Haha, well two of my working aunts having a dog was explained away because one had just found the dog (along the canal in Camden, hence he was inventively called Camden), and couldn't find his owner so they had to keep him, and the other lived in Switzerland where you can take dogs anywhere so it's different (she had a great dane so I'm pretty sure she wasnt taking him to work with her) ?

With a single working Mummy, I learned to shovel shit at a very young age ?

 

[{97702}]

My mum used to take the
Boxers to work with her.... she ran the local playgroup ? She said she could trust them 200% with me and my sister - obviously we were taught from day one never do anything horrible, but if we made a mistake the dogs would just tolerate it. They would also guard us with their lives ?