I want a Swissy.

Once upon a time there was an feature film animator and a mother of two who really wanted a dog. At first, I didn’t know what kind of dog. Growing up, we had a Rough Collie who was appropriately named Lassie after the T.V. show. She was a lovely family dog but unlike the T.V. hero of all children of the 60’s, (and thru reruns the children of the 70’s) our collie far from epitomized the traits that the general public associated with collies. She was hyper, an escape artist and loved to chase cars… not bad guys.  Instead of rescuing people, she loved digging into trash cans.

Lassie died at the ripe old age of 14. She was one year older than I was, so I was 13 at the time and that was the last time I actually owned my own dog. Since then, I have had many animals including horses, cats, birds, chickens, and the occasional rodent. But the only dogs that have been in my life are ones that I was taking care of for other people.

The exception to this was one summer during my college years when I was living in a trailer behind a friend’s house in Acton California. My friend owned a farm and it was my job to take care of the barn and all the animals in return for free rent and utilities. One morning i woke up, and a black lab was sitting on my door step. His collar said his name was Cody and there was an address. I pushed him into my car and drove him home. Later that day, he was on my door step again. I was later to find out that Cody’s owner had recently gone off to college and he was staying with her parents. Apparently he missed his person and somehow had found me as a suitable replacement. The parents were so moved by his desire to be with me, they let me care for him for the summer. He was an amazing dog and went everywhere with me. I remember long walks in the desert on hot, sunset filled evenings and one time when we got lost.. i asked Cody to find the way home and he seemed to understand. He ran ahead and led me all the way back.

Cody made a huge impression on me. And ever since I’ve been dreaming of the day when I would be in the position to have a dog.  The time is Now. The dog I want is a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. I’ll save the details for why I want a Swissy for a later post, but suffice to say this blog is a documentation of the journey to acquire one.