Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Mid-Alantic Pets, 4 by aspenhill

aspenhill wrote:
Winchester was the dog of my childhood. He passed while I was away at college. Border collies are only happy if they have a job to do, and me, my siblings, and the neighborhood kids became his flock of sheep to tend. His efforts to keep us herded together while we were playing still makes me grin. Imagine the groans from the other kids when he showed up during a kickball game LOL. He was in his element. I think he had a very happy life, and managed to transform my dad into a "dog person".

Aspen was the next of my dog companions, and the first of my adult life. I don't want to get into a discussion about puppy mills, they affront me on all levels. However, Aspen came from a mall pet store back in the 80's when they still sold dogs. I rarely go to malls, but I had an errand to run at Sears. The pet store was right around the corner from Sears and across from a Burger King where I was headed to get a drink. I glanced in the window and saw a row of cages with pure bred pups of varying breeds. Aspen perked up as soon as she saw me. When I walked away, she started howling. I could still hear her while I was in line at the BK. On the way out, I paused at the window and she immediately stopped the howling and perked up again. As I again went on my way, she again started howling. It hit me like a ton of bricks and I knew in my heart that this was a howl of despair. Despite the bigger picture issue of playing in to puppy mills, I had to rescue that pup. As many of you already know, Aspen Hilll - the name of my place in Lucketts, is in memory of Aspen. She was my constant companion during the house building years. My DG profile pic is of her as a pup and is used for the "Aspen Hill" logo.