February 15, 2007
The Puppy Palace dog, the custody dog, and the dog with
issues
The Three Tomatoes are dog people. We love our dogs,
other peoples dogs, dogs we see on TV, in the movies, and on the streets of New York (well most of them.) And as it happens, most
of our friends are also dog people -- seems we attract one another. And we realized recently, that we haven't devoted a
column to dogs in quite a while. It's high time that we correct this oversight. So we thought we'd start
with one of The Three Tomatoes' story on acquiring her dogs.
A little bit of history
One day shortly after this tomato married her second (and we should add current)
husband, they were sitting around the dining room table on a Sunday morning, with the extended family which included the tomato's daughter and
mother, when someone said, "You know what we need? We need a dog." But before we tell you what happened next,
we need to go back in time a bit.
The tomato and Mr. Tomato, both had dogs as children. The
difference was that in the tomato's case, no dog ever stayed past puppy hood. You see while her mother always liked the idea of
dogs, the reality was after the "isn't he adorable" phase set in, and before you could say Spot, he was whisked away to some other home to grow into
adulthood. So, when the tomato grew up and married hubby #1, one of the first things she wanted was a dog of
her very own to raise into adulthood.
Well she found an adorable little puppy but sadly his time was
short-lived as well. You see, he had an unfortunate "accident" inside hubby # 1's dress shoe. So off he went to
a new home. In retrospect, the dog should have stayed and hubby #1 should have been shooed away, but that would have required more
wisdom than the tomato had at the time. Mr. Tomato's experience was the polar opposite. He grew up
with two dogs (sequentially), Penny One and Penny Two (both beagles) each of whom were raised as puppies and stayed with him until their time was
up.
Acquiring Tiffany
We tell this earlier tale, only because it sheds a bit of light on the
tomato's dog acquiring philosophy, which is "get the dog now before anyone says no." So back to the breakfast
table. No sooner had the breakfast dishes been cleared, when they headed off to the nearest dog shelter in search of
the perfect dog. Now to this day, Mr. Tomato still regrets his decision to stay home and watch football. You
see they did go to the animal shelter, as discussed at breakfast, with all good intentions of finding the perfect homeless dog.
But the reality was they were too old, too big, or too growly. In short, they just weren't falling in
love. As they headed back to the car, dejected and disappointed, they suddenly remember
"Puppy Palace". So off they headed to the mall. Okay, so they figured they'd have to pay a
"few bucks", but it would be worth it.
When we tell you they named the adorable cocker spaniel they
bought ,"Tiffany", you'll have a clue about the "few bucks" she cost. They just couldn't help
themselves. You see Puppy Palace had a place called "The Love Room" which was where they let you take the adorable puppy you've
been eyeing while they go off to check out the "price." Of course, they make sure this takes a long time, and when
they return you have, of course, fallen in love and price is no object. It's that classic passion and lust
thing.
So before they knew it, Tiffany was in the car, and then reality started to set
in -- Mr. Tomato would kill them! So they devised a "love room" strategy.
We'll just put cute adorable puppy in his lap, he'll fall in love, and then he too will say price is no object. Well,
it didn't quite go that way. After the "you paid what" rant, Tiffany eventually wooed him, and lived to a ripe old age of 17,
in their home -- despite the fact that she was the most hyper dog you have ever seen until she was about seven -- and despite the fact that she
never really got perfectly housebroken -- and truth be told, wasn't really all that bright. But she was
cute.
Along came Fur
So while the tomato finally got her wish for a dog to live out its
life with her, she never had a desire for two dogs at one time. Well several years later when Tiffany was about
10, along came Fur Face. You see, afore mentioned daughter was now all grown up and dating a guy who happened to own a four
year black lab named Fur Face. (Yes, we thought it was a rather dumb name too, but he was named after a dog in a book who had a super
IQ.) As it happened the boyfriend was traveling to Europe all the time on business, and needed a "temporary "
home for Fur Face. Well the tomato wasn't kean on big dogs, and this one weighed 100 pounds, and wasn't especially kean
on two dogs, but apparently Mr. Tomato and daughter were plotting a "love room" strategy. Turns out it worked, because within
days after Fur Face's arrival, he had been nick named "Fur" and all 100 pounds of him was sleeping at the foot of the bed on the tomato's feet. Then
of course the inevitable happened and tomato daughter ditched the boyfriend, and after a "brief" custody discussion, Mr. and Mrs. Tomato got full
custody of Fur who was the most amazing dog we have ever known, who also lived to a ripe old age of 14.
The Dog with "issues"
So, a few more years go by, and tomato daughter finally meets a guy she doesn't
ditch, and gets married. (And yes, he has a dog too, but that's a whole other story.) So the weekend after the
wedding, the tomato and Mr. Tomato head up to Vermont with Fur to spend a weekend with one of the other The Three Tomatoes . As it happened, she and her husband had recently lost their old lab, and decided that this was the
weekend to find a new puppy. As it also happened, a local breeder was advertising a litter of chocolate
labs. And yes, by now you've guessed where this story is going too. How could you not fall in love with
these adorable little guys? And how could you not take one home? And of course the
tomato didn't "not fall in love", or "not take one home". And tomato daughter to this day still feels she
was replaced by the dog.
His name is Buck. His brother is
Willy. The tomatoes should have realized that very first night in Vermont what they might be looking forward to
when they both managed to "break out" of the laundry room where they thought the pups were nestled in for the
night. Let's put it this way. These dogs loved to chew everything. And we do
mean everything. Like the time Buck opened up and chewed the contents of about a dozen Christmas presents that were wrapped
and under the tree.
Buck and Willy are now seven years old and while they've fortunately outgrown their
chewing phase, Buck has, shall we say, "issues" which are stories we will share with you another day. But he's ours, and
he's not going anywhere!
What are your dog tales? Email us at tomato@thethreetomatoes.com
'til next week,
The Three Tomatoes
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