As a child I growing up in the 70s, we always had dogs. Here’s the story of all of the dogs I’ve loved in my lifetime.

TIPPY, DINKY, COCO, TASHA
Tippy is the first dog I remember. He was a small mixed breed dog that was white and tan. He was a low-riding terrier mix with floppy ears.

The next dog was Dinky, a mostly white long legged chihuahua. He was your typical chihuahua. He barked a lot and he hated my grandpa. Grandpa always wore long pants and Dinky would bite at his pant legs every time he left our house. That’s what I remember about him. ha

Our next dog was Coco, also a long legged chihuahua. I’m not sure why after Dinky my mom decided to stay with the chihuahua breed but she did. Coco was a better dog though (but don’t get me wrong. We loved Dinky!) I remember her curling up on the couch with me whenever I had a blanket. Her birthday was September 7th. I don’t know how I remember that after all these years.

My mom’s last dog, also a chihuahua was Tasha and she died around 1988-89 and that was the last dog my mom has had. She occasionally talks about getting a cat for the company but I think she likes her fur-free house too much to give in.

So, I come by my love of dogs naturally.

SLOAN
My first dog as an adult was Sloan. I adopted her in 1996 and she lived to be 12.5. I learned a lot from her and 4 months after her death, I changed careers and started my own dog walking and pet sitting business in her honor.

One of my favorite memories of her:

Early on she got the nickname Swoan and it stuck her whole life. My brother’s oldest son Andy was maybe 4 years old and couldn’t pronounce his “L’s” so she was Swoan.

SAM
When Sloan was 2, I thought she needed a friend so in 1998 I went to the Humane Society of Charlotte and adopted a 1.5 year old yellow lab named Samson. I shorted his name to Sam. I had a large fenced backyard and they chased each other around a lot.

I always took a lot of photos of them. I had no idea what I was doing but I tried. Sam was a good dog. He was easy. He liked other people and other dogs but he hated the camera. Every time I pointed it at him, he barked.

One of my favorite memories of Sam:

His vertical leap was crazy high. If he was outside in the backyard at mealtime, he stand at the back screen door and jump up and down. The dog could jump. I sooo wish I had a photo of that!

BUDDY
Don entered the picture in 2000 and in 2004, his company moved us to southern California. I wouldn’t put the dogs on an airplane so when we moved there and then back again to North Carolina in 2007, I drove across the country with Sloan and Sam each time. My mom came along with me. We had a great time.

Don and I always said we were a 2 family dog so when Sloan left us in 2008, we adopted a black lab named Buddy. The rescue thought he was anywhere from 7-10 years old when we got him.

Buddy was the BEST dog I’ve ever owned. He was so well trained and had such a great personality. I call Buddy my 2nd heart dog. Sloan was my first and I was lucky enough to have a 2nd one enter my life.

WILLOW
Don has always wanted a “white” labrador retriever. I prefer chocolate or black… because of the shedding. I prefer shedding in darker colors, not white. But a friend of mine emailed me in 2013 about a white lab needing a new home. I went and met her and brought her home with me. Don didn’t even meet her. Willow entered our lives and Don called her the best girl ever.

One of my favorite memories of Willow:

She wasn’t white. She was yellow but her previous owner had shaved her so she looked white.

Buddy is the reason I’m a photographer. We were lucky enough to have him for 7 years and after a health scare, I went and bought a Nikon d5300 so I could take better photos of him. He launched my photography career. I am forever grateful to him.

MOOSE
Buddy left us in September 2014 and 2 weeks later Moose joined our family. Most of you know Moose. Take a look at my Instagram if you don’t. Even though we said goodbye to him 2 years ago, he still makes an appearance there.

I have many favorite memories of Moose. One of them:

My niece and I drove him from Charlotte to St Louis so he could be photographed by the famous photography duo Dancers and Dogs.

It is Pet Remembrance Month but I’m going to include our 2 current dogs too. This is about All the Dogs I’ve Loved so I have to include Molly and Jeff too.

MOLLY
Molly joined our family when we lost Willow. She is a hound mix and she has a hound personality. She can be a bit aloof.

She’s the first dog I’ve had as an adult that isn’t very lab-like. She doesn’t have the velcro-dog gene unless there is a thunderstorm but even then she’ll go lay in a corner.

She doesn’t enjoy being my dog model. Even with treats she doesn’t seem to love it. *See the grinch photo… this is kind of perfect and sums her up.

When she “smiles” like she is in the first 2 photos, it doesn’t even really look like her to me. (It is obvious to me that she is panting and not smiling because she doesn’t do it very often.) The 3rd and 4th photos are really her “look.”

We love her and I hope she knows it. Sometimes I do wonder.

JEFF
And then there is Jeff. What can I say about Jeff? God help us all? Maybe that’s what I will say.

We love him, Don especially does.

Jeff has some aggressive behavioral issues we are still working through and according to our dog trainer, we will always have to remember these traits that he has.

He is mostly cattle dog and he has the protective cattle dog gene. But he is cute and very entertaining. We laugh at him a lot.

These are all the dogs I loved in my life over the years and this cartoon by Charles Barsotti sums up how I hope I’m greeted when I get to heaven.

To Sloan, Sam, Buddy, Willow, Moose, Molly and Jeff: Thank you for all of the love you’ve given to us.