Woolfarm's Experience Raising Dogs
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My wonderful world of raising dogs began when I was a mere 4 years old!!!
The photo below was taken by my Mother in December 1958 (yes, that's over 50 years ago!!), and sent out to family,
friends, & customers as our "Christmas Photo" that year.  Mother was definitely a "woman before her time". Nobody sent holiday
letters in those days, not to mention photographs. At that time, Mother had just begun raising exclusively white, toy poodles
and as you can see from the photo, I was definitely involved with her endeavor!!



Little did I realize at the time how valuable it was that I spent so much time playing with and enjoying those litters
of puppies that arrived into our home.  That special time spent with puppies is now generally referred to as "socializing",
but back then I just enjoyed "playing with the puppies". Puppies that arrived during the normal sleeping hours
would be delivered by my Mother who would put the cardboard (whelping) box in bed next to her.
I grew up to believe that was normal behavior.  To this day I choose to whelp litters in our bedroom if they
begin arriving during the wee hours. I remember vividly whelping my first "solo" litter. It was on my Mother's
weekly "woman's bowling night". She got ready as usual, came in to kiss me good-bye before leaving, and told me
that I would be just fine if Frosty began giving birth prior to her arriving back home. I froze in terror! Not me---
alone----responsible for delivering puppies----what did I know about this anyway? She calmly reassured me that
the most important thing to do, was to make sure that the nose got cleaned off so the puppy could breathe.
I protested a bit more, and then began feeling that taking on this responsibility might just prove to be possible.
After all, the bowling alley was only 2 blocks away, I had watched her deliver lots of puppies,
and I had her phone number if a problem arose.
She called me half way through the night, and I proudly reported nursing puppies and happy new Mom.
It wasn't until many years later that it occurred to me Mother had probably been fairly sure the
puppies would come long before she was to arrive back home. What a wonderful opportunity she gave me at such
a young age to not only gain skill and experience, but confidence as well in something that I would continue
to do for a half-century to come.

When I was 6 & 7, I remember pretending I was showing, and would pose (stack) the puppies along with teaching them to
walk nicely without tugging on a leash. Sometimes my dolls would have "horsey rides" which consisted of taking my rigid,
plastic legged dolls and placing them into a "sitting position", and then "saddling them" to the back of "Tommy"
(Nickname for Tom Boy --she was my favorite, most tolerant victim at the time). There was no saddle really,
(Dolly rode bareback) but I used a dog collar for a "girth" and stuck Dolly's legs through the girth. Usually Dolly managed to
stay on long enough for Tommy to get from the bedroom to the kitchen, where I would then help her dismount! What fond memories
I have of spending the majority of my youth absorbed in doggy activities.

I read a dog-training book for children during that time. I believe it was called Dog Training for Children, By Blanche Sanders.
It had a red cover and I read it cover to cover, many, many times! It said that after training a dog, that the dog would
some day sit and wait while I put my jacket on to go out for a walk. THAT was my inspiration!!  Now, I just needed a "dog"!!
It was decided between Mother and me which dog would be officially "mine".   I was an AKC-registered dog owner!!
WOW, my very first, very own dog!!   Her name was Buttercup, and she was "perfect".

......to be continued......

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