The Family Dogs

I love all animals—yes, even spiders and jellyfish. (Although I admit to being less fond of flies and mosquitoes.) And of course, I love cats. But I am what you would call a dog person. I love all dogs and they all seem to love me. So, of course, I live with dogs when possible. Currently our dogs are Ella and Lilly (pictured). But this section of my site celebrates all the dogs I've loved.

Sniffy

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Posted: 1/15/2020		Page Views: 1339
Topics: #Family #Dogs #Sniffy
The story of my first dog.

My very first dog was named Sniffy. He came with that name, but it certainly suited him. My dad got Sniffy for me shortly after we moved to a 100-year-old house in Vermont. Sniffy and I went everywhere! Freed from the dangers of the city we'd left, and naive to the different dangers of the forest, Sniffy and I wandered over much of our 65 acres, unsupervised. But, at the end of the summer after my dad died, we returned to the city for the winter, leaving Sniffy with friends. I never saw him again.

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Wrags

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Posted: 1/15/2020		Page Views: 1469
Topics: #Family #Dogs #Wrags
About my second dog, who I at least got to keep a couple years.

After I learned of Sniffy's death—just a few months after the death of my father—I was inconsolable until I was told that Sniffy had a daughter, who lived on the same farm that Sniffy had come from; and that I could have her. They also told me she hadn't yet been named, and so I very deliberately named her 'Wrags' (with that spelling) because it combined the raggedy appearance of her coat with her enthusiastic tail wagging whenever she saw me. (I was eight years old, and my adult self is still impressed.)

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Ella

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Posted: 2/18/2020		Page Views: 1383
Topics: #Family #Dogs #Ella
About the most beautiful dog in the world.

Ella was originally my grandson Zach's dog, a puppy that was a gift from his parents for Christmas. A purebred Golden Retriever, Ella grew fast and was all over the place. Unfortunately, Zach, who was a senior in high school at the time, had too much homework and also had a part-time job, so his mom wound up taking care of her—which with two toddlers to watch at the same time, turned out to be an impossible job. So they passed Ella on to me: First, to potty train her; but she just never left, as Zach went on to New York to college, then Hawaii ahead of us.

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Lilly

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Posted: 2/18/2020		Page Views: 1391
Topics: #Family #Dogs #Lilly
The other most beautiful dog in the world.

Lilly was originally my son John's dog, a puppy that he bought for himself. Unfortunately, although John loves dogs as much as I do, he is terribly allergic to them. He chose Lilly (originally named Jelly) because she was supposed to be non-allergenic. That didn't turn out to be true, and after a few weeks John got tired of explaining to everyone why he had a rash all the time and asked if Keith and I would take her over.

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Finley

By: Paul S. Cilwa			Page Views: 489
Topics: #Dogs #FamilyDogs #Finley
My daughter gets a puppy.

When I came to live with my daughter, Jenny, and her kids, I came with my two dogs, Ella and Lilly. Plus, Jenny had (at that time) four cats. So I was surprised when she came home with a new puppy named Finley. However, except for not being born housebroken, Finley is a sweet little baby who loves everyone.

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