Crit....I owned half of him...but was it the front or back?

When I was about 6 years old I lived in an apartment with a small yard. Our neighbors lived in a big house with a big yard. Willis was the father in that family, Audie was the mother, and the kids were all in high school. Audie was my Mom's best friend. I would knock on the door and they would invite me in and I would go to the front room and get some books out. My favorite one was "Ferdinand the Bull". Before too long Audie would come in with milk and cookies. One day to my surprise, a puppy joined their family. He was very small and black and very friendly. I just loved him and thought he loved me. I told Willis I wished I could have a dog but my parents said no because we lived in an apartment and it didn't work out before....Remember Skippy...the Circus Dog? Anyway, Willis said I could own half of his dog. I was thrilled. Then he said, "Which half do you want to own, the front half or the back half?" Right away I said "the front!" and then Willis said,"Good, you'll get to buy the food?" "That will save me some money!" Of course I quickly changed my mind...."No, I guess I want the back!", I said. Then Willis said "Even better...you can clean up after him!" Now I didn't know what to say...Finally I said I would have to think on which side I wanted and I would tell him later! I never could decide which end of the dog that I wanted to own.
Crit was the wiriest little dog....we had a tree in our yard that slanted towards the ground and Crit would climb it and jump down. Maybe he should have joined the Circus too! (I think I might have a picture of him too...I'm looking for it.)

My Very First Dog

I have loved dogs and horses all my life. By the time I was in 4 th grade I had read all the dog books in the library and drawn most of their pictures. I had even written and illustrated stories about dogs that I would own when I was grown up. Then I started on the horse books....reading and drawing. I asked for both...a dog or a horse for every birthday....usually ended up crying because I didn't get one. Finally when I was 12 we got our first family dog and when I was grown up and married I got my first horse. I am now 63 years old and I still love horses and dogs and have dogs....4 Shelties!

Skippy was the very first dog I remember in my Life!

When I think about it this was not really my dog, but it was the first dog in my life. He was named Skippy and he was a Wire-haired Terrier. He was white with a black saddle spot on his back and black and brown on his head. Some people at Dad's work gave him to us because they had to move and their new apartment didn't allow dogs. He was a little spoiled because they had treated him kind of like their baby. He liked to eat from a spoon. He could do little tricks...like sit, shake hands, dance, fetch, etc. He seemed to love Mom the most and was always jumping in her lap. She was pregnant with Steve so she didn't have much of a lap. We all loved the dog...except maybe for Dad. Finally Dad insisted that the dog stay outside in a dog house he made for him. Skippy hated being outside and barked a lot. Soon he got sick....actually I think it was distemper....my Dad took him to the Doctor and told us that the Doctor knew a guy who worked in a Circus and that he wanted Skippy to work with his dogs in the Circus...we weren't very happy about that.....Do you think that could have really happened?