Doggone Beautiful Fun

I’m not much for Halloween so I’m not usually interested in special segments on TV shows this time of year giving how-to’s for costumes. But today on The Bonnie Hunt Show they were showing Halloween costumes for your dogs and it brought back some sweet memories of my little Bitsy Sue. She was part Chihuahua and part Toy Terrier and she was a sweet companion of mine for much of my childhood. I remember dressing her in my doll dresses. She wasn’t really thrilled but she went along. She let me put anything on her I wanted and although she might have a kind of sad face, she didn’t complain (she didn’t run away or bite me).

Bitsy Sue loved riding in my bicycle basket. I would usually put a brown paper sack in the bottom of the basket so her little paws wouldn’t fall through the wires and she would ride with me wherever I would take her. Once I rode down to the corner gas station to get some candy or some other treat and left her at home, or at least I thought I did. While making my decision of what treat I’d buy (probably Giant Sweetarts) I turned around and there was Bitsy Sue standing outside looking in as if to say, “Why did you leave me at home? I wanted to go, too.”

One of our favorite games was where I would throw a jack ball down our long hall and she would chase after it. Sometimes she could catch it on the bounce and sometimes she’d hit the tile floor and slide under the table. But she would bring back the ball and we’d do it all over again.

She was a protector, too. If someone came to the house she didn’t know she'd bark like she would tear them apart.

Pets bring back fond memories. What games did you play with your pets growing up? Was it as much fun for them as it was for you?