From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 38:
The theme for Week 38 is “Animals.” Pet lovers, farmers, birdwatchers, fishermen – this is their week. Who will you write about this week?
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| Cocoa judges you while you read a blog about dogs. |
Animals have always been a part of my life. This is because virtually everyone in my family has been a pet owner at one point or another. You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat animals if they're furry, feathered or scaly. Animals can also sense if someone's a good person or not. We've got to give them credit. Though, sometimes animals can be a little crazy. More on that in a bit.
There are honestly way too many animals and animal lovers for me talk about this week. I've decided to narrow the list down considerably. This week we'll focus on the lady who gave my brother and I our first pet way back in the 1980s. I'm of course talking about my aunt Linda, champion dog breeder and all around awesome person.
Linda's journey to becoming a champion dog breeder began fairly early in her life. The Hamel clan always had pets of some kind running around the house. In the picture we see my mother with her siblings and a collie named Princess. My aunt Linda is the one to the dog's left.
Could this picture be more 1970s?
Yes, it could.
From what I've been told, Princess behaved exactly like "Lassie" from the classic television show. I'm not sure if that's true. I'd have to go back in time and see if that dog saved anyone from a well and then maybe I'll be impressed!
Everyone loved Princess and I'm sure she was a great dog. I mean it's a collie. They're usually good dogs to begin with. Then again all dogs can be good when they're given the chance and proper training. It's up to the person training the animal and how you treat them.
Either way, Linda's experience with Princess was just the beginning of her canine journey. Soon, she was onto bigger and honestly less fuzzy things. Seriously, collies must shed like crazy. Even heroic dogs have fuzz that roll like tumbleweeds around the kitchen. Then again most dog breeds do the same thing. Let's be honest.
In 1978, Linda began a career as a dog handler and breeder. She specialized in Brittanys, a dog breed that originally hailed from France. Britannys are a medium sized dog that come with either an orange and white or a liver and white fur coat. Sometimes they can come in a mix of all three colors! They're also sporting dogs and are used for hunting birds like pheasants and quails.
Without a doubt one of my aunt's favorite dogs in the early 1980s was a Britanny named Gunner. I may a bit biased here but Gunner was seriously the best dog ever. He was always by my side and since my aunt was living with my family at the time I saw a great deal of him. 
Gunner was best doggo.
On the dog show circuit he went by Triumphant's War Boy. He was always protective of me. But, he never really barked or anything if I recall. He was just a sweet boy and was one of the first dogs I remember playing with, For more on his story, check out his page on my aunt's website!
Gunner became obedience and field trials champion and even had awards named after him. Talk about an awesome dog. It's a good thing he never let fame go to his head. Can you imagine?
Of course he wasn't technically our first family dog. That honor went to two Alaskan malamutes named Naki and Toomi. Amazingly enough, the Britannys always got along well with those two. Then again, if you were a dog would you pick a fight with a dog that's five times your size? Though, even the smallest dog would try. Gotta admire the sheer chutzpah of a breed like the chihuahua.
Gunner ended up being the father of my aunt's first litter. Her first Brittany, Penelope, was the mother. Her first litter ignited a passion for breeding every litter since has been very special to my aunt.
At one point Linda decided to give my brother and I our first puppy. I forget what the circumstances were. I think we ended up just asking for a dog and we were in the vicinity of dogs for as long as we could remember at that point. I think we just wanted a dog to call our own and in 1986 we finally got one.
Tux was born in the December of 1984 and like his grandfather Gunner he was a very gentle dog. He wasn't technically a Christmas present or anything. Don't get the wrong idea. My aunt would NEVER put a puppy underneath the Christmas tree in a box unless it was for a photoshoot or something. Tux was actually born in the middle of the month in our basement.
Mom and Tux
We obviously called him Tux because of his liver and white fur coat. His show name was Triumphant's Formal Attire and he did very well in dog shows. In fact, he became a champion several times. I know he wasn't ever on television or anything, but, it was still quite an accomplishment. We still have his ribbons somewhere.
Despite his training, Tux was still a typical dog and did silly dog things from time to time. I remember one time we had steak on the kitchen counter that was destined to be grilled. Tux had other plans. He reached over the counter, snatched the meat up in his jaws and ran off into the living room hoping no one would notice.
I don't think any of us were especially mad at Tux for doing that. We were just impressed because he was usually very well behaved. The dog would go with us to the boat and sit on the back deck with me. Even my aunt got a great laugh out of the story once we told her. Yes, he likely felt bad about what he did and we did send him to his kennel. It was just funny to see a usually good dog do something a little out of character for once. I guess he really wanted steak that night! Britannys can be a handful and that moment was a sign of what was to come.
We named him Tie because his tail was liver on top and white underneath. Sadly, he never made it to the dog show ring as he was very ummm....energetic. Seriously, that dog's motto in life was "Gotta go fast!" Triumphant's Black Tie still had a cool show name even though everyone agreed that it would be best for him to just be a pet.
Not every dog is cut out to be a show dog and Linda definitely understood that. The funny thing was that Tux's other son Travis had more of Tux's personality than Tie.
I remember one time we were dogsitting Tie's brother Travis and his sister Lacie. Travis behaved more like Tux did in and out of the ring. He would come on command and was pretty sweet. One time we had all three dogs run around an enclosure at my aunt's house and Tie would run around like he was never outside before. He was the eternal puppy.
Travis looked up at me once as if he was saying "What's his problem?" I was like "Don't look at me. He's your brother." I think Tie more or less took after his mother more than his father. His mother was a very energetic dog. Tux was always very chill. 
GOTTA GO FAST!
I'm just honestly amazed we got him to sit still for any picture we've taken of him because he was always on the move. Nothing we could do tired him out.
We still loved him. He was great at playing fetch and he did listen to my aunt from time to time when she watched him. The trick was to get him in the mood. He was never violent or anything. Just energetic and wanted to play more than be a show dog like the other dogs in his family tree.
See? Humans aren't the only ones who have relatives doing their own thing in their family tree! I just wonder what happened to the shy puppy. Ironically, Lacie went from hyper to calm like her dad.
If I had a phone with a camera in those days, I could have made a fortune with crazy dog videos. When Tie wasn't running around, he was also getting up on his hind legs like a meerkat and spinning around chasing his tail. He also had the tendency to try and jump on my friends. He did try to jump on grandma Ollie a few times. Grandma didn't like that much even though she did love dogs.
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| As soon as I let this dog go.... |
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