We were married in 1983, and the first thing each of us wanted to do was have a dog. Neither of our parents would "let" us as we were growing up, and it was a goal when we got married.
We wanted a Basset Hound, just because of the looks. Upon return from our honeymoon, we saw "free puppies" and went to take a look. Mom was a full blooded basset, Dad was a full blooded English Setter. (Today, that would be a 'designer breed' of some sort.) Our love of RV'ing and camping was born about the same time as Rambi, who lived to be 10, through all of our towns we lived in.
When Rambi passed in 1993, it took us exactly one day to realize how much a dog moving about was a factor in making a house a home. Two days later, and a trip to the Ashtabula Protective League with our then 2nd grade daughter, we got Jobu. We thought we had gotten a black lab and, to this day, we're still not sure what breed she was. She was high strung, very agile, and great to have on your side.
Two years later, along came Brutus, our first male. We had been kicking around the idea of being a two dog family as our daughter was growing, and we were gone with work. We thought a second dog would keep JoBu company. Brutus was from a student who couldn't keep him and supposed to be a chocolate lab, but grew to be a beagle/shepherd mix. He was a terrific dog with a tremendously loud bark. Brutus was really, really laid back, a perfect ying to Jobu's yang.
As these two were getting on in years, and we knew we'd be full timing, we started deciding on getting a breed that we'd know what we had. We were between a Boxer (always having large dogs) and a Boston Terrier. Tragically, within 6 weeks of each other, first JoBu, then Brutus passed away -- they were 14 and 12 respectively. During that 6 week period, we got Sloopy, our first Boston, from a breeder. She's funny, makes us walk and exercise and a great dog for an RV.
Having been a one dog family for four years, we were kicking around the idea of having a playmate for Sloopy. It would definitely be a Boston Terrier. As we were shopping next door to Two Rivers Campground, we struck up a conversation with one of the employees who had seen us walking Sloopy through the lot. She had Bostons, in fact, had just had a litter and couldn't find anyone to take the 9th one. If you believe in fate, just earlier that morning we had corresponded with someone from Corpus Christi (where we'll be for the winter) about getting a Boston puppy.
So, welcome to our family: Carmen.
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