Photographing Children And Their Pets
A New Puppy!!!
Our family has always loved Golden Retriever dogs as pets. When Troy (Troy has been the subject of my past two weekend blogs) came to stay with us almost every day for nearly ten years, we had a golden named “Sherlock” whom our kids had named for Sherlock Hemlock of Sesame Street.
A Boy And His Dog
Sherlock lived nearly 17 years; a long time for a large dog. But his last years were not without difficulties. When he was 12 years old, he had to undergo an emergency operation to the little flapper in his throat which opens to breath and closes for food to pass by. After that, Sherlock was unable to make a barking sound. When he was 15 years old, he broke his front paw, and had to have a metal pin put in it to heal.
Sherlock walked every day with us in order to keep his hips moving so that they would not give out on him (hip disease is a weakness among Golden Retrievers). Sometimes, we would get to the end of the long driveway, and he would collapse; so there would be no walk tonight, and then we would get the wheel barrow and put him in it to take him back to the house.
Other times in the winter, his paws would get so cold from the snow that he would stop and hold the coldest paw up. Then my husband would carefully warm up his cold paw with his hands. However, Sherlock was not a quitter. When it was walk time he could take 20 minutes or so to get up.
We would encourage him: “C’ommon Sherlock, you can do it! C’ommon Sherley Locks, Get Up Boy!” After a while, out of his dog house he would come and we would be on our way. Golden’s love everybody, and Sherlock was no exception. Troy fell in love with him, and played with him for five years. When Sherlock got cancer and had to be put down, Troy missed him a lot. After that, his Uncle John promised him a puppy in a couple of years.
A Golden Retriever Puppy
Troy never doubted that this promise would be kept; he waited patiently those two years, and then in the spring a litter of golden retriever puppies was born on March 31. Three weeks later, we took Troy to see the puppies and to pick the one that he wanted. He watched as his puppy “Shadow” was weighed in at 3 lbs 12 oz.
Troy made one more visit to see Shadow at five weeks of age, and by then he was getting impatient to take him home, but Shadow had two more weeks before he would be weaned from his mother and eating puppy food. So, at seven weeks of age, Shadow came home with Troy! That first night, they both slept together, and became fast friends. Troy taught Shadow to play soccer, and Shadow was a “goalie” like no other dog had ever been!
From that time on, the boy and his dog “Shadow” grew up together! Every little boy should have a dog to love, and Troy will never forget his dog that truly was well named, because everywhere Troy went, his “Shadow” was there too! And so were I, documenting with many pictures the love of a boy for his dog, and the love of a dog for his boy!
Golden Retriever And Troy Boy
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
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