Other Stuff

Tiny Tim

My first little dog

Not Tiny Tim, but close enough

One Sunday morning, the husband and I decided to go to a swap meet. This is normally not a good thing, depending on how close to a payday it is. This was a long time ago, and I can’t even remember what big dogs we had. It was also before cell phones, so any pictures I did have are probably lost or in hiding.

So there we were, walking up and down the aisles of stalls. If you don’t know what a swap meet is, well, it’s usually mostly a large group of garage sales. Although some stalls have brand new stuff, or hand-made crafty things.

Maybe about halfway through there was a lady with a bunch of small dogs of mixed breeds. Of course I stopped and asked about them. They were all rescues from the local animal shelter. She mostly seemed to specialize in saving the dogs that weren’t particularly pleasing to the eye. All dogs deserve to be loved.

There was one who caught my eye. A tan and white Chihuahua, and not a really small one. Short fur with a friendly attitude. Meaning he wasn’t barking and being obnoxious. He was perfectly willing to be picked up and handled. Gave kisses. I fell in love and just had to take him home with us. Husband agreed and we were on our way home with our new kid.

Ah, now I remember what other dogs we had: A lab/chow (another story) and maybe also a little Shetland Sheepdog that I somehow inherited.

Quick little back story about the lab/chow: Her name was Bear-Bear and she was 10 years old. She suddenly developed a serious/sincere case of kidney disease, and the vet primarily gave her about a month, maybe two, of life IF we employed (paid) for everything he recommended.

The more I sit here and write, I remember more. The internet was just opening up to the general public in 1991. I was (still am) a computer nerd and just had to have every darn thing for computers that came out for the public to buy. This year it was modems, the old dial-up kind with that funny noise, and an amazing speed of I don’t remember. So slow it would take one text page with no graphics an average of 30 minutes to load!

The more I researched kidney disease in dogs, I learned all kinds of things about diet and abilities. But one thing truly stood out to me: Another dog to play with, to spark her appetite and get her to moving.

Enter Tiny Tim.

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