The Polish ham-thieving poodle had other endearing traits besides being able to discern between Polish ham and “other” ham. She was an equal-opportunity thief. Since our mother loved those individually wrapped caramels, so did the dog. It was quite normal to walk into the family room, really the dog’s lair, and find her with cubed caramels between her front legs. She would hold a caramel cube with one paw and work at the wrapper with the other paw until she could pluck the cube clean out of the wrapper with her teeth.
I don’t remember getting the dog and she may have come into the family at the same time I did. All I know is that one of my brothers insists that I barked with the dog before I spoke to any human. He wanted to keep me separate from the rest of the family to see if I would learn how to communicate with dogs. This is the same brother who wanted to name me “Trigger” after Roy Roger’s horse. My parents nixed both ideas.
The dog and I were close. Once, we were sitting in front of my grandmother’s house in Maine watching the Fourth of July parade. I remember a band marching by and then this clown romping around the street. I had my arm around the dog. She stiffened. I didn’t like the looks of that clown either. The clown spied us, little girl and dog, and galloped toward us, he didn’t get too close; our dog stood and took off after that clown. She came back and sat next to me, “That’ll teach them to bother little girls.”
I don’t remember getting the dog and she may have come into the family at the same time I did. All I know is that one of my brothers insists that I barked with the dog before I spoke to any human. He wanted to keep me separate from the rest of the family to see if I would learn how to communicate with dogs. This is the same brother who wanted to name me “Trigger” after Roy Roger’s horse. My parents nixed both ideas.
The dog and I were close. Once, we were sitting in front of my grandmother’s house in Maine watching the Fourth of July parade. I remember a band marching by and then this clown romping around the street. I had my arm around the dog. She stiffened. I didn’t like the looks of that clown either. The clown spied us, little girl and dog, and galloped toward us, he didn’t get too close; our dog stood and took off after that clown. She came back and sat next to me, “That’ll teach them to bother little girls.”
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