Contributed by Wayne Coleman
Anyone who lives in the mountains and/or has obtained the age of fifty-five should have a dog. Not a cat – a dog. Cat lovers are a different breed (pun intended). The old saying: “Dogs are man’s best friend” is true.
Before I go any further let’s back up a few years. My family has had dog persons for years and years. Some of them helped raise our kids. We’ve had Labs, black and tan Coon hounds, Flat Coat Retrievers and Great Pyrenees. No little ankle biters for us, no sir. No “Near” dogs or yappers for us. Only “Real” dogs would make their home with us. Cha Cha, Ginger, Heidi and Coco are just some of the names of these family members.
Our next to last dog person was a super loving dark Chocolate Lab named Coco. We had never had a Chocolate and when we told friends we had just picked out one they said we would be sorry ‘cause Chocolates remained puppies longer than any other breed. How right they were. Coco was everywhere. Chewing on everything. Tons and tons of energy. Whew. Makes me tired to just think about those days. It was suggested that we have lots of chew toys, so we had Coco toys everywhere.
When girl dog, Coco, reached about three and a half, she reached adulthood and became a wonderful companion. We took her everywhere. I interviewed kennels where we might board Coco when we went overseas. Only the best would do. I finally found a wonderful place in Smyrna, Georgia. Ted Turner - of TBS, TNT, CNN and husband of Jane Fonda fame –boarded his Lab there. They even made homemade chicken dog food each day. Nothing was too good for our Girl dog. Incidentally, we’ve only had lady dogs, no boys and I always seem to call them “Girl” as well as their “real’ names.
Coco loved our place up here in the mountains. Our twelve acres, including six acres of grass and surrounded by National Forest woods is a wonderful place for a dog lady.
Now all this about Coco is a prelude for the current story. In May, two and a half years ago when Coco was twelve, My wife, Annette and I went to Ireland and left Coco with our son, daughter-in-law and grandsons in Atlanta. Dedi, our daughter-in-law called us in Ireland to let us know that Coco was really having a hard time. She couldn’t get up and wouldn’t eat. She had had arthritis for some time and was getting slower and slower. Dedi took her to a vet in Atlanta. On our return to Kennedy Airport in New York, I called Dedi and she put me on the phone with the vet. Coco had multiple things wrong and she, like dogs will do, didn’t want to suffer any longer. The vet said it would be best if Girl dog was put to sleep.
I was walking around our airport gate talking to the vet on my cell and crying. I’m sure people thought I was talking about a family member, which I was. The vet put her partner on the phone to tell me she agreed it was the best for Coco. I finally said yes and crying said: ‘Please say goodbye to a wonderful companion for me.” We have her ashes with us still.
The next week it just didn’t seem right around our house. No Girl dog. Finally we said that we needed to find another dog to fill the hole in our hearts. Amy Patterson, our vet, said “Now, don’t get another Lab. They are so interbred that they are walking cancers. Go over to Cashiers to the Humane Society and get yourselves a rescue dog.”
So, we went on line and found a couple of pups that looked right for us. We drove to Cashiers to look at them in person. By the time we got there, both doggies had already been adopted. We walked around looking at other dogs, when Annette said, “I like that one.” We were looking at a black and white, friendly girl dog.
The folks at the Humane Society gave us what details they had. They had named her Collette. She was about a year old and had had a litter of puppies. Someone had left her and her puppies in a box beside the highway. I wish I knew who that sorry person was so I could give him/her a piece of my mind. Her puppies had already been adopted.
Collette had all of her shots, been spayed and was ready for a new home. Now let me describe her. She has really neat markings. Black on top and white underneath and white feet. Long black tail with a white tip. She holds her tail up like a flag. Her face looks much like a Husky as well as having Husky articulating ears but her body is long with long legs. She weighs fifty-four pounds and can run very fast. She loves to run fast like a race horse, bound up the steps and dive through her doggy door on the back porch. She has webbed feet like a Lab. Loves water.
Her disposition is wonderfully sweet but is a hunter of birds and squirrels (never catching them). If she gets her front paws, er, her hands, dirty, she washes them in her water pan on the back porch like a raccoon. Really funny. She doesn’t have a doggie smell, even when wet. Keeps herself clean. Wait, I know what you’re thinking, she is not in any way, anyhow cat like.
Collette had some interesting quirks at first. She was scared of stairs. I had to carry her up stairs where we sleep and carry her down. It took her about four or five days to get over her fear of stairs. She then would bound up and down like crazy.
She has beds all over the house. Her crate, on which the door is left open, is her “private” house. She has soft , foam beds upstairs and down. Annette bought a small, round bed in which Collette will curl up in a ball. She has “blankies” spread around the floor of the great room but she loves to share Annette’s blanket the best. She likes to lie beside my chair and “hold” hands. She loves to go to the beauty salon, Four Paws, in Seneca to get a shampoo and nail trim every three weeks.
In the two plus years with us, we have heard her bark only maybe four times. She just doesn’t bark much. Only at a bear, a cat or a snake. She does think she can talk. Telling us, with a low voice, she needs to go out or she needs a treat. We don’t know how many words she understands, but there are several, like “outside, “sit”, “treat”, “Momma,” “Daddy,” “go tee tee,” Bye-bye,” and several more.
All of the dogs that have owned us in the past have been more Daddy’s girl dogs than Mom’s. Not so with Collette, she is equal with her attention. Different how she treats Annette and me, but equal. Neat.
The day we got Collette, I called our vet, Amy Patterson, told here and her sister, Cookie, that we had gotten our first rescue dog. Amy asked if we knew what breed Collette was. I said that she was a “Royal French Tracker.” Cookie said she had never heard of that breed.
“What does she track?”
I replied “Elephants.”
Amy said, “There aren’t any elephants in France.”
I said: “She did a great job.”
When we travel with Collette, people will comment how pretty she is and ask what breed she is, I, course, say: She’s a world champion “Royal French Tracker.” I don’t elaborate. When they say that they haven’t heard of that breed,
I say: They’re rare.
Samantha Ryan Chandler’s book “A Love Story: How God Pursued Me and Found Me” is a story of surviving through grace. Her story is very real and frankly describes the war between the good and the bad from good’s perspective.
Can you believe the changes at the Hudson Library? Many of our year-round patrons have observed the work, been inconvenienced a little, but now the work is 99.9% finished, and we’ve been getting rave reviews. The staff is very pleased because we are meeting more of the needs of the community and have made the space fit the activity: quiet—you’ve got it; the adult reading room is as comfortable as your living room; children can be children in their sound-separated space. The new multipurpose room is available for meetings, movies, discussions, speeches—truly multipurpose.