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While we were living in our apartment in Falls Church, I came home one night from work and found a lost dog who desperately needed some care. We brought him inside, cleaned him up, fed him, took him to the vet, and worked to find his owner. We were able to reunite the dog with his owner (about a mile away) after about a week. The dog was a handsome airedale who also happened to be an escape artist, at least very adept at escaping from his true owner. We’re not really sure if the owner was happy to get him back, and that made us very sad. Anyway, we found out that our neighbors had been watching, and were very impressed with us that we had done this kindness. They decided that we “needed a dog,” and they had a particular one in mind! A very small chihuahua/cocker spaniel puppy had been given to another neighbor, whose old dachshund was now “starting to feel neglected,” and the puppy needed a new home, fast. We saw that cute little dog tied up under a chair (for its own protection against the dachshund), being fed vegetable-flavored Milk-Bones, and we knew that we all really needed each other. Love at first sight. We named him “Bert,” after the Pentangle folk singer Bert Jansch, who was holding a puppy that looked something like ours on one of his albums. To our great surprise, this teeny-tiny little dog who
could fit in my sweatshirt pouch did not stay tiny, like
others from his family tree. He didn’t grow very big,
but ended up as kind of a small, short-haired cocker
spaniel. Bert was a wonderful dog and charmed everyone.
Susan and I would call him “Summerdog!” or
“Ramblin’ Dog,” or our “beige dog with
brown trim,” and we loved him very much. Our
Bert-stories could fill a book. He lived to a ripe old age,
and now waits for us in heaven. Well, I’m ramblin’, I’m ramblin’
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