Phriday Photos! Where you take over and I put my feet up. Just send photo or photos and some sort of blurb – about anything! – to peter.b.abrahams@gmail.com. And now over to Mary L for a trip down memory lane.
Cuppy and Mitzi were my childhood dogs. We got Cuppy when I was in the 4th grade in San José, California. My sister was only 3 or 4 and couldn’t say puppy but would say cuppy, so her official name was Buttercup (my idea) but Cuppy for short. This was way before The Princess Bride movie.
We only lived in San José for a year, then moved back down to San Diego.
My Dad built a dog house for her and she had to stay in it at night. She was allowed in the house during the day and spent her evenings in the living room with us when we watched television but was never allowed on the furniture and after the 11 o’clock news was put outside to spend the night in the dog house. It was the 60s and this is all my parent’s knew about dog ownership. She ate really awful cheap dog food from FedMart her entire life. My brother and I tried some once to see why she was so enthusiastic about eating it. It was hard, dry and reminiscent of compacted sawdust. We only tried it once.
She was a Keeshond mix and had the softest fur. She also shed like crazy. My Mother would brush her at night and fill a wastebasket with fur, then do it again the next night and the next. She never went bald and there was still fur shed all over the house. I kinda wish we had saved that fur as when I was in college I got a book called knitting with dog hair and you could even send your dog’s fur out to be spun into yarn. I would have loved to have a hat, scarf and mittens made out of Cuppy’s fur.One of the reasons I adopted Freyja was she looked so much like Cuppy. I was convinced she was a Keeshond mix, not a husky mix. Cuppy was a gentle loving dog. She was not spayed and had three litters in her life, two unintentional. The first time she got out of the yard and ended up pregnant. She was able to have those puppies naturally and they all got adopted.
The second time she was bred to a pure bred Keeshond but the puppies were obviously mixed. She also had a difficult time giving birth and had to have a Caesarian. My Dad was not happy with the expense. The first to learn to suckle we called Einstein and he was adopted by some people on the next block over. Eventually they all got adopted until there was only one puppy left. She had started to hide when people came to adopt the puppies and by the time she was six months old it was obvious she wasn’t going to get adopted so we just kept her. We named her Mitzi. I think Cuppy was glad for the company and to have her daughter with her.
Cuppy did get pregnant a third time, this time by a male dog breaking into our back yard, and this required another Caesarian. This time only two puppies. The vet said there was a third but it was stillborn. It took longer because of the scar tissue from the first Caesarian. The vet said he had to make a separate incision for each puppy. Those first few days Cuppy was always looking around for more puppies so we suspect there might have been more than just the three. She was spayed during that last Caesarian so no more puppies.
Mitzi loved having half-siblings and whenever Cuppy would leave the box she would get in and sit with the puppies. Mitzi wouldn’t let any dogs near her so even though she wasn’t spayed she never got pregnant. She did have her Mother’s soft fur and did shed but her coloring was more German Shepherd than Keeshond. They were both beautiful dogs.
Mitzi was always skittish around people, except for the lady down the street. Peggy was one of those gentle souls that has a magical way with animals. When she would come in to visit Mitzi would go right up to her and put her head on her lap and let herself be petted. She never did that with anyone outside the family except for her.
Eventually Cuppy and Mitzi were allowed to sleep in the house in baskets in the living room then in my parents’ room. But when Cuppy started to be restless at night and wanted to go out in the middle of the night, my Mom kicked her out and I said she could sleep in my room. I would get up in the middle of the the night to let her out. Eventually she developed cancer. I was in college by this time and I was the one that took her to the vet one last time and stayed with her because I didn’t want her to be alone at the end. I did the same thing for Mitzi when her time came a few years later.
10 Comments on “Phriday Photos”
What a beautiful dog and story. Thank you for sharing.
Both she and her daughter were beautiful dogs.
ML, what wonderful reminiscences!
You can see why Diana and I drove four hours to get Freyja. She looked so much like Cuppy I couldn’t do nothing when I saw her red carded. And I don’t regret it one bit, even though she is very different from Cuppy aside from being a Husky and not a Keeshond.
Cuppy was always “my” dog even though she was the family dog. She was close to my Mom, the provider of kibble, but I am the one that spent the most time with her. When she got old mine was the room she slept in, next to my bed, because I was the only one willing to get up in the middle of the night, sometimes more than once, to let her out. She may not have had the best life but she had a good life.
By the time Mitzi came, the bother were allowed to sleep in the house. They each had their own basket but Mitzi would often crawl in the basket with Cuppy.
My Mother thought Mitzi was the way she was because of seeing strange people come and take a puppy and so she started to hide. My Dad thinks someone’s kid picked Mitzi up and then dropped her when she was a puppy. I think she just had a psychological problem.
I see I got their story in to you just in time for Phriday Photos. I only have my parent’s dogs Candy and Dolly left. Then it would be on to “honorary dogs” like Chipper the budgie, Madame Curious, my pet rat and Mr Fish, my goldfish.
Hope someone steps up for next week. I know there are a lot of current and former Companions of Plunderers out there. Perhaps even something besides a cat being involved.
Today is Friday Fish Fry day. I have no fish to fry, not that enthused about frying a fish, but I do have fishsticks. Sounds like dinner. It is also National Tartar sauce day but I don’t care for it so will use cocktail sauce instead.
ML, that was beautiful! Mom will try to write about her previous dogs but I don’t think it will be by next week. She has an out of town trip planned for a couple of days, then a friend coming here for a couple. So maybe by the week after next??
P.S. what’s wrong with stories where a cat is involved??
Nothing. I’m saying we’ve had stories in which both cats and dogs were involved. I’m saying I’ll bet the Plunderers have had other dearly beloveds. Horses, rabbits, turtles, I had a rat, a goldfish and as a child the family had a Budgie. Doesn’t have to be just dogs and cats. In fact, OFA left it up to anything anyone wants to talk about. I shall probably do my garden once or twice once Spring really gets going.
I see OFA is taking Saturday off again. Well, not off. I like to think of it as C&B day in which he is hard at work given the next Mrs P is to be released soon, he is likely working on the next C&B for 2026. And that is just fine with me. Two days off really since we here have given him an extra day off the blog with Phriday Photos.
I think we are due a Franklin write up as we have already had Wookie and Teddy.
I think Big Tiny mentioned another member of the current or previous Clouder.
Sure would like to hear some stories from Rió and the Thieves.
Cuppy and Mitzi— what a great story about two lovely girls. And I love the story about how Cuppy got her name.
Are you preparing an extensive and detailed essay on the endearing Franklin? If so, please include that photo of him standing in the drinking fountain in the park after one of your walks. Maybe a shot of him in the swimming pool on vacation. I know you have a lot of photos of Franklin and a lot of stories. Maybe the Roosevelt inspired connection between Teddy and Franklin? Yeah, I just want to know everything.
Oh, and that wasn’t the extent of my sister’s lack of command of the English language. There was also Hangerburger and Busgetti.