What can we say about a teddy bear that wandered into our lives and stole our hearts. Whitey appeared at our farm in late 2004. She looked part Samoyed and Chow, and we had never owned a dog of those breeds. She had a deep bark that scared everyone, but she was as sweet as could be. On that first snowy night, we put her in our mudroom that we were remodeling. By morning she had chewed a huge hole in the plywood and made her way outside! But over the years, mom Ellen made sure she became an inside dog! Dad Curt named her Whitey, and we later thought how “Wooly, Wooly,” “Honey,” or “Bear” would have been such good names since she had a beautiful teddy bear face!
Whitey gained quite a reputation in our little town of Platteville. She wandered to town and was seen being “escorted” back to the farm as she walked in the middle of the street with the patrol car following her home! She wandered another time in a rainstorm, was picked up by a caring officer who put her muddy mess into the back seat of his patrol car, and held in doggie jail until Dad Curt could rescue her. We wondered if her wandering was due to doggie alzheimers??
Whitey had a great retirement on the farm. She got a “pep in her step” when she saw bunnies run in front of her, but alas she never got close to catching them. It exasperated her buddy Abby, our Australian Shepherd, who rousted out the bunnies for her. Whitey liked walking back and forth to the barn and lying on the back porch keeping watch. She had bad arthritis, teeth, and fatty tumors but never complained a day in her life! We miss her terribly but can’t wait to see her running and playing in heaven! God blessed our lives for the short time that Whitey came to live with us and by sending us Dr. Kathleen Cooney.
The Hale Family