Our dog Spotty
You can obviously tell it was you, Junior, who took this picture of our dog Spotty. You can see your shadow on the ground. I'm not sure what kind of breed he was but I just remember he being a very good dog to us, very gentle and protective and not at all hostile with our neighbors. Spotty lived to be very old. He got to make the move with mom and I after dad passed away. He took good care of us until he quietly died. He never led us to suspect he was going to leave us. He even died while doing what he did best, surveying the back yard and that is where he was found, standing under some hanging bushes by a stone wall in our back yard, hiding his face from us, as if he did not want to see us look at him as he slipped away or he did not want to say good bye to us, either. Spotty was the dog we got when dad traded our big white German Shepherd Bozo for him because Bozo use to jump over the fence and chase the post man away! Bozo also chewed up my Mrs. Beasley doll. (You know if you watch MeTV you can see that doll on the show called Family Affair.)
"Snoopy for President" click on this link to hear the song by The Royal Guardsmen
Back in April of 1973, Snoopy was a puppy. I remember we were big fans of the comic Snoopy also and we even enjoyed listening to your 45 record of that song "Snoopy for President". When you left us 2 years and 2 months after you took this picture, Snoopy went on a hunt for you. He managed to get out of the yard some how and got run over one night but not just once, it appears twice as dad suspected. Snoopy was hurt badly and I remember when dad walked in the door and I saw his face, a face that said I don't want to say anything about what I just saw outside, but he came in to get a box and a towel and we went outside to put Snoopy in the box, very carefully, because he was bleeding and two legs were broken on his right side. We took him to the vet over on St. Cloud and Woodlawn, the one by the bank, and we waited for the vet to examine him. Dad and I waited in the waiting room for quite some time and the vet finally came out and told us that he was in very bad shape. He told us it would cost $800.00 to do surgery on him because of his broken bones. Dad and I just looked at each other and he had this look that told me that the surgery was not an option at all. Back then mom and dad were just paying $45.00 a month on the house payment for a new home! And the vet wanted $800.00? Then the vet gave us an option, and I thought it was going to be a good one, he said "Or we can put him to sleep". I looked at dad and said "Why does he want Snoopy to sleep right now? Snoopy is scared and thirsty and hungry." Dad just shook his head and told the doctor thanks, but we were just going to take him home with us. I eventually learned as I was growing up that the vet meant to kill him- put him to sleep forever- wow well that never crossed my mind.
I was so used to seeing dad taking care of everything and fixing everything for us and I just knew he could help Snoopy through this almost tragedy. We went to abuelita's house but on the way we stopped at the store to buy some frozen popsicles. When we got to the house, mom and I passed out popsicles for everyone to eat and then dad asked me to collect the little wooden sticks and wash them. While we were eating these popsicles, 'buelita gave Snoopy some left overs, probably of rice and beans, and he ate it up as if he hadn't eaten in days so he got his energy up and I recall dad saying that it was a good sign that he had his appetite back. Snoopy could not get around on his own and all the cousins were just looking at him in the box. Dad then came out to the back yard and brought some gauze tape and the wooden popsicle sticks already dried up from the wash and he made Snoopy a couple of splints over his legs. I could not believe what our dad had thought of and more than that- those splints worked! Snoopy limped around with those little make shift leg casts and he made it through like this until he completely healed from his back leg and his front one stayed with a little limp. Everyone was shocked to see that Snoopy actually survived.
Snoopy also joined mom and I on our move after dad passed away and he lived to be very old. I use to make him scrambled eggs and cream cheese in the morning and he just loved that. I was in my first year in college at SAC and I recall feeling something at around noon during English composition class and when I got home, I found Snoopy on the floor in our house. He waited to take his last breath when he saw me and I immediately called mom at work. Mom, well she began to cry over the phone and she took the rest of the day off from work to just be at home and think about Snoopy. To this day she does not want to take care of any puppy at all because she was so close to Snoopy.
