Baby, our Boston Terrier wonderdog, had her sixth birthday this week.
It doesn’t seem that long ago when grandson Craig and I drove six hours to Merced, California to look at an unusual puppy that I’d seen online. The “backyard breeders” were an old Mexican couple who didn’t speak English but were assisted by a neighborhood girl who was maybe 12 years old. They had two dogs left out of the litter: a beautiful male and a blue-gray female with a mostly-white face. The latter one had a lot of energy; we took her. The owners gave us a $100 discount because we drove so far.
As I recall, we paid $900.
At the time, our two Boston Terriers were getting up there in age (JayJay was 10 and Booger was 9), and the idea was that the new puppy would be the companion dog to Booger when JayJay crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Booger, our female, had never been bred, thus never had her own babies. So, we named the puppy “Baby”, as in Booger’s Baby.
We didn’t know it at the time, but poor Baby was loaded with giardia, a nasty intestinal parasite, from being bred out in a dirty backyard where she probably ate the dog poo of her litter mates. Anyway, the poor little dog battled that giardia off and on for about nine months.
We finally found the solution when we were traveling in our RV up in Oregon and met a veterinarian who gave us an “old school” remedy that finally stopped the diarrhea-thon. Baby almost immediately started putting on weight. What a relief!
Booger was an excellent surrogate mother for Baby, teaching her how dogs are supposed to behave in the Manning household. Baby, in turn, did her best to wear out Booger and JayJay with all kinds of tug-of-wars and bitey-face activity. Booger, who was quite the athlete, more than met her match in Baby, who could literally run circles around her.
At that point in his life, JayJay was conserving his energy.
The two older dogs seemed happy to have the little tyke in the household and taught Baby how to stick around the RV when off-leash and how to explore the beach responsibly when we were on the Oregon coast.
Booger, who was a world-class ball retriever, taught Baby the skill, and now she is unparalleled at it. Just like Booger, when we’re at a place like Dog Beach in Del Mar, Baby will race through a crowd of fifty dogs, out into the water, grab the ball, race back at top speed, weaving through the pack of dogs, and drop the ball at my feet… every time. Dog owners (particularly the ones who have “retriever” dogs, ask me how I trained her to do it. I would tell them, “Booger trained her.”
Of course, we knew that our wonderful JayJay wouldn’t last forever. He passed almost exactly three years ago at age 13 and it was evident that Booger, one year younger than JayJay, was slowing down appreciably. We decided to replay our “companion dog” idea and get another Boston Terrier puppy who would be Baby’s “baby” and her lifelong buddy. That’s when Charlie ordered up a purebred Boston from a breeder back in Ohio. We named the little girl “BonBon” and she had the benefit of knowing Booger for a brief time and also being under the loving tutelage of Baby.
Booger passed (at age 13) about two years ago, shortly after BonBon entered the picture. Once again, the lessons passed down from Booger to Baby were now being passed along to BonBon. In that way, the wonderfulness of Booger lives on in our current dogs.
When Booger died, Baby was 4 years old, she was now the “Boss” of the house, and was young enough to handle all of the energy that her little puppy sister could generate. By then, we were living in Mesquite, had a huge backyard, and a doggie door, which gave the two dogs the freedom to enjoy themselves indoor and out. Baby then taught BonBon the ins-and-outs of RV living, and everything was cool.
We were not looking to spoil this perfect situation (i.e. two perfect Boston Terriers providing energy to our home) when I heard about a dog that needed a home. We certainly didn’t need another Boston but, when Charlie and I and Baby and BonBon were introduced to little “Vinnie”, he needed to come home with us. So, now our Boston Terrier plate is full-up.
Baby was five years old when 14-month-old Vinnie entered the picture. To her credit, Baby has been a very good influence on her new brother, teaching him how to act around the house, how to stay in the backyard, how to rein-in his exuberant play (to some degree!), and how to comport himself in the RV life.
Baby loves to play with BonBon and Vinnie. They do the bitey-face thing, lots of tug-of-wars, plenty of wrestling, chasing after toys and one another, and hassling over toys. We’ve gone to rubber and plastic toys, as three Boston Terriers fighting over some plush toy renders the thing destroyed in a matter of minutes. BonBon and Vinnie are constantly looking for things to chew on and argue over, while Baby might use the opportunity for a quick nap.
We have a California King bed and we all sleep together on it. Baby cuddles up next to Charlie, BonBon is between us, and little Vinnie cuddles up against me. I wear earplugs because Baby, Vinnie and Charlie snore pretty loudly. We also sleep together when we’re in the RV… in a Queen bed! It’s a bit tight, but we find a way to sandwich in all of the arms, legs and torsos and sleep surprisingly well. I think it’s the cool weather on the Oregon coast.
So, Baby is now six years old and her roommates Boston Terriers are both two years old. Baby still has plenty of energy to keep up with the other two, and has matured very nicely into the senior statesman of the Manning pack.
Booger would be proud of her “baby”.
