Background History Part I

Unfortunately, I did not start Stella's blog the minute we brought her home, but of course hindsight is 20-20.  I feel it is important to provide background information to help her readers understand...why she is the way she is! ( OK so maybe it is just as much my background as it is hers.  LOL)
I was a young girl during the "Lassie"era.  I begged my parents for a puppy and I won.  Laddie was my dog for some 13 years.  I dressed him up in doll clothes, pushed him in the stroller and confided in him when I became a teenager.  I ran to him (and got bit) when he was hit by a truck and we both lived to tell the tale. There were no "invisible" fences and chasing cars was one of his bad habits.  Of course, back in the old days, dogs were dogs.  They were tied up, not walked often ( for fear of loose dogs attacking) and put in the basement for long periods of time.  They were feed, petted and nursed back from diseases they caught, because there were very few vaccines.   I can still see where I was standing, in my sorority house, when my Dad called to tell me he had to put good old Laddie to sleep.  I cried all day.  When I think of Laddie's dog life I feel bad, but then I remember that dogs were dogs.  So maybe I am trying to make up for Laddie's past by making Stella a MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY!

Fast forward to 38 years later.  I fell in love with a great man in 1977, but I forgot to interview him about pets and allergies.  Thirty years of marriage and no dog.  Then one day, during our empty-nest phase of life, I realized he was not sneezing in houses with dogs!  He outgrew his allergies!!!
Once a dog person, always a dog person.  I began to beg. (Please note I learned how to beg for dogs and win at a very early age.)  My nephew's girlfriend's Golden had puppies and I just went out to look.  Ok, maybe I went out just to hold them.  I found myself driving by, just to see if the puppies were out.  Well the rest as they say, is history.  I did absolutely no research.  I just knew that I always thought Goldens were so lovable and cute.  I had no idea that you shouldn't pick the pup who runs to you first, but I thought that was so cute.  I picked Stella.  No, actually, Stella picked me.
Now I just had to convince my non-dog person husband.