The more things change, part 2

I sometimes think that my animals have been reincarnated from earlier pets.  Then, I read W. Bruce Cameron's book A Dog's Purpose, and realized I may not have been too far off the mark!  If you have not read that book, and are reader and a dog lover, I urge you.... but make sure you have tissues handy. I read the book about a year before Hector died, and in some small way having done so helped me get through our loss a little easier.

If you've read this far, and still think I'm a sane person (which is highly debatable anyway, even without all this reincarnation stuff thrown in), then keep reading about my Sunday morning "a-ha" moment.

I was looking for a childhood photo of my step-daughter (now all grown up).  I started looking through old photos that her mom and dad have scanned onto our computers.  I didn't find the picture I was looking for, but I found  pictures of her parents' dogs:  Schulz and Winslow.

Schulz, left; his son, Winslow (as a puppy) right.
Winslow later lost a leg.

I had completely forgotten that Winslow was Schulz's son, and that Winslow had lost a leg, and was affectionately called "Tripod"after that!  Now, in the back of my mind, I "knew" this, since I knew Winslow when he was still alive (but never did meet Schulz).  But it just never clicked that the resemblance of these two dogs to Charlie and Cooper, was so striking, and that the"tripawd" thing entered into the story.  The irony was somehow lost on me, until this morning when I accidentally stumbled across the photos.

Charlie Brown

Schulz

Schulz

Cooper

When I started looking for a puppy several months after Hector died, I remember Gil saying he would like to have his next dog be a combination between Hector and Schulz -- two dogs he loved very much, and both of whom died way too young.  Hector was a hound mix, and Schulz was a collie or collie mix.  A few days after he said that, I found Charlie Brown on a local rescue's web site, and he was described as a hound/collie mix.  You can read more about that here.

Maybe we just prefer our mutts to have similar physical characteristics, sort of like when folks always get the same breed:  Great Danes, German Shepherds, Huskies, Labs, Dachshunds, Chihuahuas.... except we always get mixed up mutt hound collie mixes.

There's no particular ending to today's blog post.  I just thought it was interesting enough to share.

Curly-tailed Cooper.

Hector, a very tall hound with a long tail.
If he stood on his rear legs, he was as tall as me

Charlie Brown, an equally-tall hound, same tail.
Same markings, except brown instead of black.
If he stands on his rear legs, he is as tall as me