All The Dogs I Have Loved – My First Dog

Yesterday, I posted a comment in my Saturday Ramblings about how I started to write a post about all the dogs that have been a special part of my life…….well, there were so many that it ended up being more like a book the size of Gone With The Wind instead of a blog post! So, I decided that I would post a story highlighting one or more of them from time to time. Here is the first of many in a series I will call “All The Dogs I Have Loved – A Loving Tribute Series”.

I’ll start with the most obvious one to start with — my first dog — a magnificent pure bred Norwegian Elk Hound named HANSON (The Marquis Hanson of something?). I don’t have any physical memories of Hanson because I was barely a toddler when he was my loyal companion. But I have heard many stories about him and have photos of us together – unfortunately, none that I can post here (we didn’t have digital cameras or the ability to get our photos on CD at Walgreen’s back then – it was a time when the person taking the photo had to load real film, install a new flash bulb for every shot, advance the film manually after each shot, and send the film off to be developed – oh the horror of it all…..LOL).

Anyway – here is my tribute to Hanson.

Hanson came to us from an abusive home and responded to my Mom’s loving care by becoming a devoted companion that was very protective of my Mom and me. He was a very large, muscular dog, but was extremely gentle and loving with me.

Like I said, I was barely a toddler (maybe 1 or 2) when Hanson was a part of my life. My Mom has told me that Hanson ADORED me and made it his business to take care of me – he slept beside my bed, played with me, and guarded me like it was his most important job! I would nap on the floor with my head on him as a pillow – we were inseparable!!!

My favorite photos of us include one of me and Hanson within inches of each other looking like we were gazing into each other’s eyes (I was standing, Hanson was sitting and he had to bend down to be at my level) and one of me in a very bulky snow suit with Hanson at my side in a huge snow bank!

At that time, we lived in a house in Eagle Harbor, NY. The side yard ended at the top of a deep gully with a creek. If I even started to head in that direction when outside playing, Hanson would get in front of me and nudge me with his nose and knock me on my butt. He knew what my boundaries were and he kept me in them – he was better than a fence!

He wouldn’t let strangers come near me, my Mom, or our house! He even had a salesman “treed” on top of his car once! Mom tells of how one sunny afternoon, she and I were out in the back yard playing on a blanket and Hanson was laying right there beside us. My father came running out of the house in a pair of shorts and a funny hat and rushed up on us to try to make me laugh — well, Hanson didn’t recognize him and saw him as a threat to us and NAILED him!!!! My father didn’t see the humor of it!

So – that is Hanson — the first of many dogs I loved and that loved me!!!