During Brent’s active Air Force career, he lived in apartments most of the time. He said when he bought a house with a fenced yard he wanted to get a dog. Well, he did and he did.
He wanted a big dog...a man-sized dog. He saw an ad for Golden Retriever puppies. He picked the one with the biggest feet. When Coleson and Sara got out of school that afternoon, the three of them went to pick the puppy up.
There was a discussion about a name. Someone suggested “Fluffy,” because at the time the puppy was very fluffy. Wisely, Brent said that might not be appropriate when he was grown. The next suggestion was “Willie.” Brent thought he could live with that one, so “Willie” it was. Now Brent can’t imagine him being named anything else.
Willie was immediately the hit of the family. Brent and Coleson played with him and Sara wanted to “mother” him. She played dress up with him and when it was naptime she made sure he was well taken care of. Once, when he was much bigger, she stuffed him into one of her t-shirts. Willie survived, but the t-shirt didn’t.
Soon, Willie was big enough for the kids to ride. However, Coleson soon got too big, but Sara was able to continue for awhile. He thinks everyone in the neighborhood loves him. And you know what, they do!
Several time, Brent, the kids, and the dog have traveled with us in the motorhome. We have camped out in the Fort Walton Beach area, and in Pennsicola, staying at military Famcamps. One time, they all joined us for a trip to Colorado. It was always fun. Willie rides looking from the front to the back. If he is on the bed, he looks toward the front. One time, I was asleep on the bed and Willie was in front. When he saw me wake up, he was on a dead run to see me, with Brent in hot pursuit. When Willie got to the shower, he launched himself. I curled myself into a ball just before he landed beside me. He was so happy to see me, and the feeling was mutual.
On our way to Colorado, we stopped in Amarillo, TX on Brent’s birthday. The kids wanted to take him to the Big Texan Steak House for an evening celebration. Bill said he would stay in the motorhome with Willie. We had lots of leftovers to take to Bill. He sat on the sofa and put his plate down to go outside for a minute. When he came back in, he ask me what I did with his dinner. I hadn’t done anything with it, but there sat his plate, empty and very clean. He was disgruntled to say the least, and made himself a peanut butter sandwich. Before he could start eating, he remembered something else he needed to do, and set his plate down again. You talk about a slow learner! I caught Willie just as he started on his next course. In defense of Willie, Brent had forgotten to feed Willie his mid day meal and it was nearly time for his evening meal. That big dog was hungry! I thought it was funny, but it took some time for Bill to see the humor.
Willie has always had a fondness for socks. When he was younger, and somewhat smaller, Sara would stick her hand down his throat and retrieve his treasure. Last spring, when Bill and I arrived in Mississippi, it was cool and earlier, I had been wearing fuzzy socks to keep my feet warn. When we opened the MH door, Willie bounded in and back back out in three seconds...with a black, fuzzy sock in his mouth. Brent thought that was really funny...and so did I.
Brent loves his “big man dog,” but if you ask him what Willie likes, Brent’s voice softens and he says, “Snowflakes, butterflies, and blowing leaves.” Yup! He’s a man’s dog!!!
Willie has grown into a very handsome dog. He is hard to take a picture of because, when he is in his Golden Retriever stance and notices he is being photographed, he gets wiggly and frisky and lopes toward the camera. Kodak moment lost!
I have many more pictures, but I still have limited skills when wanting to send them in my blog.
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