I Hate Dogs.... I mean I Love Dogs....

When I was an infant, maybe about 12 to 18 months old, I was bitten on the head by a doberman pincer. I was too young to actually remember this but it resulted in a rush to Mercy Hospital in Miami along with a lot of blood and several stitches.

Here's how I saw dobermans after that. Actually, ALL dogs.

I'm sure that doberman was not really trying to hurt me since, if he was, I would be dead.  As it was, he put my whole head in his mouth and clamped me.  Maybe he thought my head was a strange pink ball, I don't know.  There may be some scars but all the bites were in the scalp and I've never shaved my head to see if they show.

This was the beginning of my terrible fear of dogs.  It didn't matter what kind of dog or the size.  They ALL scared me and I would do anything to avoid contact with one of those evil creatures. This fear stayed with me until the year Kathy and I were married.

We lived in a great little duplex on 25th Terrace in Miami.  We had the back apartment and the front one was occupied by an elderly Jewish couple, the Shapiros.  Mr. Shapiro had severe emphysema but he smoked non stop.... while wearing an oxygen mask.  And, God help me, they had a DOG!!!  It was a little white toy poodle with bright red painted toe nails. Might as well have been a 100 pound pit bull.  I was terrified it would bite me and I steered clear.

One evening, there was a knock on our door and there stood some friends of ours, Rick and Eileen Rodriguez. I normally would have been glad they came over but, to my horror, Rick had a DOG in his hands. It was a 7 or 8 week old puppy with brown and gold hair.... or fur.... whatever it is they have.

Side Note: Here's the earliest pic we have which was just after we got him.  He's playing with our nephew, Kenny.

They explained they just got this little monster but their landlord told them they could not have it in their apartment and they had to get rid of it.  With that, Rick held him out and said, "here, you guys take him."  Before I could tell what was going on, I had the puppy in my arms and Rick & Eileen were walking back to their car.

I quickly dropped the critter onto the carpet where he graced it with a moist little gift.  Then he laid down on my foot.  I was hooked. How could I be afraid of this little...... fur ball.

The next day was a holiday.  Not sure which one.  We had planned to drive up to Cocoa Beach where my Dad worked and we were not about to change our plans for this little dog.  So, we got in the car and took off.  After an hour on the road. the little guy climbed into Kathy's purse and went to sleep. Maybe he wasn't gonna be as big a pain as I thought.

We were too dumb to get dog food.  We took a package of hot dogs and gave them to this tiny little puppy whole.  He actually fought his way through this challenge. Tough little pup.

Pound For Pound The Strongest Dog In The World!

His name was Ben and we didn't like that.  Because he reminded us of a chocolate chip cookie, we decided to name him Chippy and that stuck.  He grew up to be a whopping 37 pounds but looked a lot bigger due to his ample supply of reddish gold fur.

I've never seen another dog like this one.  One time he saw TWO huge Afghan hounds being walked about 50 yards behind our apartment. He took off and actually blew right through our sliding glass door.... it was closed at the time.  He shattered that door and was on those Afghans in a matter of seconds.  Chippy bit one on the stomach and the other took off squealing like a little piggy.

In Philly we lived in a third floor walk up.  Our cousin Ken worked downtown and he would bring people he worked with to our house just to "walk the dog."  Ken would show up with a guy wearing a 3 piece suite and say, with a huge grin, "he wants to walk Chippy."

Ken would snap the leash onto Chippy and then tie the other end securely around his friend's wrist telling them, "they really love this dog so we don't want him to get away."  Chippy would sit quietly at the top of the stairs until I opened the door and said "OK." With that he took off like a rocket and when he hit the end of that 12 foot leash he'd be going 30 or so miles an hour.  It did not matter how big the guy was, he was goin' down those stairs.. NOW! It was common for some big guy to be screaming like a little girl within seconds of the "walk." 

Chippy's death was a terrible blow for us.  He'd been a member of our family for nearly 15 years. I credit this tough little guy with curing me of my fear of dogs.  What a friend he was.

Interesting Note:  The dog we now have is a fabulous and very sweet black Lab and DOBERMAN mix.  Can you believe it!!!

Buzzard