This morning as I was carrying a large pile of laundry I stepped on the paw of our dog who was lying in the doorway. She loves to lie between rooms, perhaps increasing the chances of interactions. Usually I am aware of this tendency, but this morning I was focused on the wash. Fortunately, she was not injured and I didn’t fall down. But it did cause me to reflect on the reality that I have lived almost all of my life with dogs in the house.
In a way it is odd that so many of us share our indoor lives with animals. In my case, it has always been both dogs and cats, though allergies of my husband limit me now to dogs. My parents owned a dog before I was born, and I was introduced to her right away. Cinder, pictured above, was a black cocker spaniel who happily made the move from the Brooklyn apartment to the beaches of Oregon. Here I am immensely amused that Cinder now has a gray nose from the sand. I have been burying rocks and she has been digging them up.
Cinder was a docile dog, happy to stay close to home, usually in the house. She remained healthy for many years and had several litters of puppies. Somehow, we always found homes for the pups. The 50’s seemed much more casual about dogs. Maybe because there were so many kids there was always a home that could use another dog.
Tomorrow we meet one of these litters.
Saved By Words 
Funny, there was a cocker spaniel across the street named Cindy, and she had two black children who became our dogs, Tarbaby and Basi. They were great.
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I love the exotic names you gave your dogs. Cockers don’t seem as popular now.
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Strangely enough, one was named by grandmother after the sausage kielbasa. I agree they seem less popular, but i did see a black one in the past few months.
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We had a neighbor who had one, it was the sweetest thing. This was back in the 60’s. She looked after all the children.
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My son loves cats and dogs. We have one remaining dog, a cross-breed Labrador and Japanese spitz. We have three cats too. I love your photo.
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We also always had dogs when we were growing up, Elizabeth. Now we have two cats.
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What kind of dogs did you have?
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This is a really nostalgic picture! I love that you have it, so beautifully innocent and in color! Thank you for sharing and increasing my love a little of the companionship of dogs.
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I was a beautiful innocent kid. Life took its toll, but I can still connect with her spirit sometimes.
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Such fond memories. In the city, dogs are getting smaller due to condo dwellers. I hardly see big dogs around here.
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That makes sense.
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Ah! Little you is so cute. I am not a fan of dogs but I enjoyed every bit of this posts.
At least, you have always had companions
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Do you like cats, or do you prefer to just live with people?
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