Mandy, what a great girl she was. Mandy was my first dog; that is my first very own dog. I had a toy poodle growing up that was the family dog but Mandy was mine alone. I met Mandy when she was only six weeks of age. Yes, far too early to have been taken away from the litter but that was forty years ago. She was a crazy little devil on four legs; but matured into a wonderful, kind and gentle adult.
Mandy and I started our life together when she was 4 years of age. I was 18, had just graduated, got a job and an apartment. It was just Mandy and I. I have the greatest memories of our long walks along the parkways, our peacheful walks at The Pits (before it was known as the place to be,) and anytime we could be around water.
Living in Canada at the time, swimming was definitely saved for the summer. Although Mandy was game anytime she could get into anything without ice on it. She was a sporty dog and loved to retrieve, even though she was a terrier. But her favorite activity by far was swimming and bringing up huge boulders from the depths below. She would somehow get her mouth around something that was truly far too large to remove, but she would figure it out. She'd bring it out, put in on the beach, clean it for a bit and go get another.
Our enjoying the Canadian waters with my girl.
By the time our girl was an old girl, her canine teeth were completely flattened out from the rocks. She also loved to pull out small logs that had sunk to the bottom. The logs were brought onto the beach where she would dig on each side of it, turn it and dig some more.
Her obedience education was very little when we were first together but in no time she was the perfect canine companion. She went from running every time I'd say "come," to being one of the most reliable recall dogs I've ever lived with.
Only a few years after being together, the two of us were joined by my husband and Mandy's new Dad. We were a family of three then, but not for long. It was less than a year when we had our first baby who Mandy welcomed and then the second and third. By then she was an old lady sleeping most of the day away.
As the years caught up on her, her legs grew weaker. Canadian winters are brutal for the healthiest of dogs so the old and feebly can really have a time of it. I clearly remember her trying to get up the front steps; often running out to carry her up or just take the weight off of her back legs. She was a trooper in every sense of the word.
She was an amazing dog and my very first. The first plays a huge roll in the dogs to come. You learn so much from the first; make many mistakes and take with you lessons learned for the next. All of the dogs who came after Mandy benefitted from the gifts that she gave me as we shared our lives together. I will always remember her with a smile in my heart. My first.