Say what you want about dog being man’s best friend. Much to Bonaparte’s chagrin, our little rescue rascal, Chippy is my best friend too!
Isn’t he just too cute???
And anyone who enters through our hallowed threshold will be well-aware of that within moments of meeting him!
We adopted this little mass of wavy hair two years ago. You just know that I am going to tell you this story so you just may as well grab a fresh cup pot of cawfee, or a kettle of tea—or a bottle of wine.
We are STILL trying to figure out how he ended up at a rescue because he’s just a great little pal!
When Bonaparte and I became a union, he had a Corgi. Bugsy (Bugsy and I did not get along but there was a mutual respect between us)
Bonaparte’s Bugsy. It bothered me to no end that this Corgi was not properly trained. I couldn’t even give him a treat without his trying to bite me. Instead, we just had a mutual respect.
I had a Basset Hound, Dorothy. Dorothy had been adopted from the Tri-State Basset Rescue. She was found, tied and bound to a tree in a park in Jersey City. They did not know how long she had been there but she was a mess when I adopted her. It took—and I’m not kidding—a good year to re-condition her.
Dorothy was one of the most pathetically funny sad sacks on earth. We would howl together and her favorite pastime was taking pillows from the sofa and humping them!
Check out the love between these two sisters! It was hard to believe that Dorothy was close to death when we adopted her. They loved running around at Rosedale Park in Pennington, NJ when we lived there! I miss you girls!
Ruby—she was our baby. We got her when she was 8 weeks old and became a large part of the family…you can click on the link below—it was one of the first posts I wrote. I get sad when I think of her.
OK..So back to the present—sort of!
After Ruby passed away, Bonaparte’s Corgi, Bugsy, passed on less than a year later. We truly were empty nesters.
A couple of months after Bugsy’s passing we went on our yearly visit to France.
When we returned, I approached Bonaparte about the possibility of adopting another dog. He wasn’t ready, but he thought it may be a good idea to start visiting the SPCA’s in the surrounding area.
It was painful to see so many dogs in those cages—I wanted to take them all home, but we just weren’t ready.
A few weeks later, Oona called. She instructed me to go to the site of “Main Line Animal Rescue”.
She instructed me to go to the “Adopt” page. She directed me to the cutest and scruffiest little dog. My eyes grew larger. OMG. He was adorable!!! His name was “Chippy”!
I needed to meet him. But the challenge was trying to convince Bonaparte to just “meet” this adorable little rascal!
I begged and pleaded. FINALLY, and I swear it was just to shut me up, Bonaparte agreed to “look” at Chippy!
I called MLAR and left a message to see if we could stop by and “meet” Chippy. I also mentioned this news to a neighbor who was extremely active within MLAR.
We got the call to go to MLAR and meet “Chippy”.
As we were driving to meet him, Bonaparte firmly stated to me about sixteen times:
Bonaparte: “Cassee. Get ziz srew ou ‘ed. We ahr NIT coming home wiz zis deg. Do ou unnersan”?
(Translation: “Cathe, Get this through your head. We are NOT coming home with this dog. Do you understand?”)
Me: “Yeah.” (eyeroll) “I unnersan”
Upon arriving at Main Line Animal Rescue we were bewitched and mesmerized by the sight. MLAR is the country club—the absolute retreat for animals. And boy, do these rescues deserve to live in a sprawling magnificent field of greenery. It’s beautiful. All I could think of was what animal would want to leave???
Main Line Animal’s Entrance. Isn’t this AMAZING?????
We drove along a little winding road to the “office”.
Another one of MLAR’s buildings. I’ll tell you these animals DESERVE to live here!
When we opened the door and entered, we were greeted by dogs. Large. Medium. And Small. I spotted a lab that reminded me of Ruby and almost started crying! The dogs were just so happy! They all greeted us as though we were old friends!
Bonaparte was standing guard at the door—seemingly ready to make a quick getaway at any time.
Then Chippy came out!
He came up to me and started to jump around while I just laughed at him.
Then—as if he had a sixth sense, he marched over to Bonaparte who was still standing guard at the door. Chippy looked up at Bonaparte.
Bonaparte looked over at the volunteers at the desk and asked:
“An whut eez zuh pwosideure to tek ‘im ‘om?”
(Translation: “And what is the procedure to take him home?”)
At that moment, my neighbor, Nathan, walked through the door—he had a very strong suspicion that we would be taking little Chippy home with us!
We were gifted with a crate and a group of young, female volunteers surrounded Chippy with lots of goodbye and good luck wishes and kisses!
It took a few days for Chippy to settle down. Just as it took a few weeks for all three of us to learn to live together.
No being too keen on the name “Chippy”, I suggested to Bonaparte that we change his name to “Rugby”. It was a kind-of hybrid name between “Ruby” and “Bugsy”. Plus—it was a cute name.
After two days his name went back to “Chippy”. Bonaparte couldn’t pronounce “Rugby”.
He would call out to either “Rugsy”, “Rubsy”..or “‘Bouggee”. “Chippy” was easier!
He is now the King of the Castle.
The royal rascal “King Chippy” on one of his many thrones!
Bonaparte gets upset because he does most of the “work”, like take Chippy out to poop. (Chippy refuses to do that for me). He also takes Chippy to the vet and takes him out late at night. Bonaparte has a hard time understanding why Chippy comes to me first.
Chippy especially loves when the kids come home to visit because he becomes even MORE spoiled than he is now. Oona refers to Chippy as “The Favorite Child”!
I give Chippy treats. Lots of treats.
He loves his Peanut Butter Milk Bone Sandwiches! I fill a Kong with his treats too! Oh shit! He just threw up a bit. I may have given him TOO many treats today! Oops!
In addition, I take him with me in the car and I turn the music up to “11”. And we both sing along!
We sing “Who Let The Dogs Out” really loud in the car!
He makes me feel good when I’m feeling worthless.
Chippy will let me know everything’s gonna be alright just by the way he looks at me–even on my worst days!
Chippy lets me know when he’s hungry.
I know I look appetizing to you, but I’ll get your food now! No need to lick your chops!
He takes my sports socks when I’m trying to get dressed. Then we laugh about it!
“Chippy. I’m wearing my Tory Burch boots today. Did you see my sock?” “Oh you little rascal!” “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!”
He waits patiently for me while I’m getting ready!
“OK Chippy. I’ll just be a minute–I have to put mascara on!”
He lets me to silly things to him without getting pissed at me.
“That’s it Chippy! You look so cute in that Babushka” “It’s by Coach!”
He defys me—but in such a subtle way!
I tried to explain to Chippy that he isn’t allowed on the living room sofas. I wouldn’t have white sofas in the house when the kids were younger–and I don’t want YOU getting your doggie hair all over the place. It’s bad enough I have MY hair shedding! See! He doesn’t listen. Another one of His Highness’s thrones!
He loves me unconditionally.
I love you too, you little rescue rascal, you!
He is a reason for my smile!
One of my favorite pics of all time. Chippy photobombed me! This was taken in January–just before I started my blog! He does make me smile!
Oh..sometimes Chippy can be a real pain-in-the-ass. Especially when he barks at people—but he’s just being my protector. I may give him a couple of eyerolls and tongue clicks when he jumps on me at 6AM to wake me up, but then he cuddles with me so I’m happy! Bonaparte is extra happy when Chippy climbs in between the two of us!
First he’ll jump on me early in the morning–then he’ll give me a look like this. Who can resist??
Bonaparte loves when Chippy cuddles like this in between us!
You got a dog? Go give her or him a big hug. Just because!
Oh..and there are times when I just KNOW Chippy is more of a deep thinker than I am!
They are NOT just man’s best friend! Dogs are EVERYONE’s Best Friend!!!!!!!!
Hug that doggie of yours today!
Today! ATOMIC DOG!! By George Clinton! Our Dogs Be Bangin’!!!!! ALL Dogs are Atomic! XOXOXOXOXO!
