Dogs of My Life – Snoopy

Yes, yes, I co-opted the well-known soap opera title Days of Our Lives as a pattern for the title of this blog post. It is not that I am incapable of creating a unique one, but rather that I intend to document each dog I have had in my life. Why am I doing this? Because within the next 14 days we will add a new canine member to our family. I thought it would be fitting to take some time to remember the previous dogs that filled my life.

My first pet was a dog. There are a multitude of possibilities for a pet, but to me, the dog is unlike any other. I am sorry to use a too-often over used term, but they truly are “Man’s Best Friend”. A cat wants you when it wants you and no time else. Birds, small rodents, reptiles and the like just don’t thrill me. But a dog, now there is the kind of friend everyone wants and even deserves.

I loved the comic strip Peanuts, in that form and in the annual cartoon specials. My favorite character was the fabulous dog, Snoopy. I loved him so much I influenced the choice of our first name in using Snoopy. Snoopy of the comic strip is a Beagle, but my Snoopy was a mix my dad called a Heinz 57. But in my eyes my Snoopy was as cool as the other.

This is a photo from Christmas 1970 of my brother on the left. me and Snoopy.

Snoopy was larger than life in my world the few years he lived. He was ever present, roaming the acre and a half where I grew up, chasing rabbits, killing groundhogs, being a great watch dog at a time it wasn’t really necessary and a great, great friend.

I was told stories of how Snoopy would visit my neighbor during they day and wait with him on the porch for the magical hour when my school bus would deliver me home in the afternoon. We all know about a dog’s acute sense of hearing. From what I have been told Snoopy knew the sound of my bus and made the tenth of a mile journey from that porch or our home every day when the bus came to walk me up the hill to my house.

I can remember Snoopy cornering a groundhog under my mom’s Chevrolet Vega one Sunday. My dad assisted in making the groundhog weaker so Snoopy could finish the job he initiated. He knew who or what did not belong and acted accordingly.

I am sad to share I was there when Snoopy’s life came to an end. I cannot remember why I was there exactly, but I can still remember seeing the car hit him and him spinning around from the impact. Burying him with the help of my neighbor’s son who was about fifteen years older than me was one of the toughest things I had done in my first 10 years.

Since then I have buried several more pets and it does not get any easier. But I don’t want to dwell on that, I just want to reminisce and share my canine memories with you. I hope you will come back for the other blog posts in this series.