Kozmic Dreams Dogs of the Past

This page is dedicated to my best friends from years past---the four dogs that brightened my days. They have since passed on, but their memories remain...

1968. Sambo as a puppy. She was a poodle.

Note: When my mom named Sambo, she was unaware that "Sambo" was a racist term for a Black person. Sambo was named after the nursery tale of "Little Black Sambo", a story I grew up with that my mother enjoyed reading to me. We never interpreted it to be a racist story and had no idea anyone else did either until the book started to be banned in the late 1980's. I was not brought up with any racist ideologies. My first school experience was in a mixed gifted classroom for kindergarten. I was not even aware that the students were of different races---to me, we were all just kids, as I was never told anything to the contrary. My future friends and love interests were of many different races, and all were accepted and welcomed by my parents.

The first picture shows Sambo on our back porch by my crib in October 1975. The second photo shows Sambo and me on the couch.

Sambo and me in January 1978.

Sambo and me with ice cream in June 1978.

Sambo and me February 1980.

Sambo and me in the fall of 1980.

Sambo and Holly (described below) in the summer of 1983.

1983. Evansville, OH. Here I am with Holly by Golly, my first puppy, a Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier, an Irish breed of dog. They weren't a very popular breed at the time, so we had to drive about 6 hours to get her from a breeder.

Winter 83-84. Holly lying behind our new puppy, Heather O' Halloween, also a Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier. Interestingly enough, Heather was born on the day after Sambo was put to sleep (but we hadn't purchased her until about 8 weeks later). Here you can see the remarkable difference between the dark puppy coat and the more wheat-colored adult coat.

Holly and me in the late fall/early winter of 1983.

Spring 1984. Holly after a brushing. I enjoyed brushing her hair so she looked elegant like this. Sadly, Holly was hit and killed by a car not long after this picture was taken.

Here's a poem that my mom and I wrote about Holly and put on her grave-marker in the backyard:

Holly by Golly

Left us today.

She left us with memories

Of her playful way.

She liked to talk,

And she liked to bark,

And then one day,

Took off on a lark.

Never to talk or bark again,

We have lost a very good friend.

1986. Heather by the piano. Heather and me in the leaves. Heather interacting with my toad. Heather lying in my bed.

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March 29, 1988. Heather had a litter of six puppies---three males and three females. It was such a wonderful experience that I will never forget. I was lucky enough to have captured much of the development of the puppies on a VHS tape.

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The puppies are a few days old in this picture. The second puppy from the left has a "T" on his chest so we had nicknamed him "Mr. T." We kept one of the female puppies that was nicknamed "Big Girl" since she was the largest female. We later named her "Sweeties."

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Summer, 1988. Sweeties swinging in a tire on my swingset. Sweeties and her bad habit of shredding toilet paper.

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Winter, 1988. Heather with a straw hat. Heather and Sweeties in front of the piano. Sweeties "playing" piano.

Summer, 1989. Sweeties swinging in a tire. Heather with sunglasses and a shirt. Heather and Sweeties with country-western attire.

June, 1990. Sweeties in the bathroom.

Spring, 1992. Sweeties with her pink hairdo.

Fall, 1992. Heather and Sweeties. I took, developed and printed these photos in my high school photography class.

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Jan/Feb 1995. We acquired Darwin (abandoned by his owners) in October 1994. The first picture shows Sweeties laying on the floor. The second is of Sweeties, Darwin and my mom. The last picture shows Darwin in back, Heather in the middle, and Sweeties in the front, obviously begging for something.

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Winter 1997. Darwin and Sweeties.