Blondo

Originally written March 23, 2012

On one of the old sites I used to blog at they had writing prompts but since I wrote there the site is pretty much gone so I have been grabbing what I can see that I have there and bringing it over to this blog on different pages so keep coming   back for updates. 

For this week’s prompt, I want you to tell me about your very first (meaningful) pet. Everything you can remember, including its name, how old you were, what happened to it, any fond or bad memories you have, etc. Just anything that pops to mind. 

Also, do you believe it’s good for kids to be raised around animals? Why/why not? What was the most entertaining and/or endearing pet you’ve ever had? If you aren’t a pet person, why is that?

Blondo wasn’t exactly my first pet, but the first Pet I had a relationship with. My first pet was a Guinea Pig, which I only remember from stories from my parents, so Blondo will have to do.

One day at my Aunt and Uncles house one of their dogs attacked me and bite me in the face leaving a scar below my left eye. Sadly they had to put the dog down since I was the third blonde haired person it attacked. After this I became very afraid of dogs so as a gift to help me overcome the fear they gave me my very own puppy. I must have been about 5 or 6 when this happened.

Here is my Dog Blondo. His chain was heavy and his anchor was put in the ground I believe over 6 feet with cement and if he really wanted to get loose he could break it like it was nothing.

I fell in love almost instantly, and named him Blondo. Blondo was half Saint Bernard, and Half Labrador. He had the fur of a Labrador, but the size and strength of a Saint. He was beautiful and very protective of me. He was an outside dog that guarded our home, and then when we had our pigs, chickens, and turkeys he became their protector and friend. I say friend because one day he helped the pigs dig their way out of the pen, and when I got off the bus all you could see was that the pigs had gotten out and were running around.

Here is blondo in the spring before planting time, witht he chicken/turkey coop in the back, you can tell my father firmly believed in recylcing everything, his dog coop, and you can see a bit of the pig pens fence. This shows off his muscles the best I think.

When ever I was sick he would whimper for me and Dad would have to let him into the house so he could check up on me. He would bound up the stairs to be near me, but one thing he never learned to do was go down the stairs. We had to push him down the stairs every time, and he would slide all the way down. His fathers name was Dumbo or something like that, I guess he passed that along to his son. He weighed about 180 and was pure muscle.

Here is my Princess Goliath when she was still a baby.

  

When I was about 14 we were moving and we thought we were moving far away so we had to give him up to a farm family. I cried, he cried and shortly after we gave him up he died. He probably missed me. I know to this day I still dream about my beautiful Saint Blondo, and miss him today just about as much as I missed him then. 

Here is Princess with Dorothy, what a huge head she has.

  

Of course my dream has always been to have another Saint, and when we moved to where we are now, I had no idea that the dream would come true, but sure enough Princess Goliath came into our lives and 4 years later she is yet another beautiful Saint to bring happiness to my life. I love her as much as I loved my Blondo even though she gets into mischief from time to time.

For the second part of the prompt. I sure do believe in children being raised with animals of all kinds. I grew up on farms so we also raised our own food to eat, Steer, veal, chicken, turkeys, pigs, and all of the veggies we could plant. My father bartered for things like butter, smoked bacon, cheese, and things like that. I was also taught to live off of the land, as in we hunted for Raccoons, fox, and other animals and traded their skins in for money to pay for other things we wouldn’t normally be able to buy. I am sure most of my Christmas and Birthday presents were paid for in this way. We reused everything much different then the world today where if it breaks you throw it away and buy new.

I grew up knowing it was ok to eat animals but also that they could be your friends too. My vast knowledge of animals was handed down from my parents to me. I am glad they chose to let me have pets, it taught me love, compassion, and as they died it taught me to deal with death and losing a part of yourself with that, and most importantly the memories of good times to keep you going forward in life every day and not to give up. God gave man a wonderful gift when he let us rule over animals.

What was your first Pet?