PADUTCH-LIFE-L Archives

From: "Vee L. Housman" <>
Subject: [PD-LIFE] Moose the Dog and SPICCA
Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 23:42:54 -0500

Dear Group,

I wrote this story this past May and I don't know if I posted it to the list
or not. But when I dug it out again this evening, I thought you would enjoy
it. Moose was my very best dogfriend.
vee

For a very long time I've been wanting to say a few words about a very dear
departed dogfriend of mine named Moose and his relationship to SPICCA, more
commonly known as the SPCA. Back around 1983 I decided that what I needed
in my life was a big huggy dog to call my own and so I went to the SPCA to
pick one out. I walked among the kennels of dogs and cats and my heart went
out to each and every one of them. But in the very last kennel I saw a
Labrador retriever mix dog that really seemed to be reaching out to me. Of
course he was barking and wagging his tail like all of them but what
impressed me most was that when I walked up to his kennel he sat down very
properly and just looked up at me with a sad look in his eyes and with his
tongue lagging out, still wagging his tail. And his name was Moose.

Well, I hadn't really made up my mind just then and I walked back to the
other end of the kennels. But when I looked back up toward the end of the
running yards of the animals, there at the very end was Moose, jumping up
and down and waving desperately at me to get my attention. Well, that did
it! I took Moose home with me and he was ecstatic.

But our ecstasy together didn't last very long. We got along well enough
but I was still on active duty in the Navy, I didn't have a fenced in yard
and putting a leash on him in the early hours of the morning just so he
could go the bathroom wore pretty thin with me. As a result my friend Fred
who was retired took Moose to live with him. And they got along just fine.
Fred fenced his yard in and before long Fred and Moose and me were a
threesome. We would go out for drives in the country and Fred would
deliberately call Moose's attention to a dog alongside the road. Moose
would jump up and down and bark and yell, all the while being in the front
seat between Fred and me and generally stomping all over my lap. However,
despite the bruises I ended up with, all three of us had a great time on our
drives.

Over the next few years, Fred traveled to Switzerland on occasion and he
left Moose with me to take care of. Moose and I lived together very
comfortably. The two of us would walk back into the country fields of my
property and in general we had a really great time together. But then came
Moose's very special adventure. Fred had planned to visit his Swiss cousins
once again and this time he decided to take Moose with him. Both of them
boarded the plane (Moose in his comfortable cage) and they ended up in
Switzerland.

And for the next few years when this was repeated again, I wanted to write a
story from Moose's point of view of what he would have written on post cards
back to the SPCA where I had picked him up as to what happened to him since
then.

Can't you just imagine what he might have written back to SPICCA about his
adventures and the encouragement it would have given the other dogs there?
Such as, "We boarded the train and traveled to the Jung Frau today. The
view was magnificent!" Or "Today Fred and I dined at a cozy chalet on the
shores of the Boden See. The food was exquisite." Or, everyone just loves
me and I've learned to bark in Swiss!"
Moose lived out his life in Switzerland and he adjusted to it just as well
as he adjusted to his being adopted from the local SPCA. He never really
expected much in the first place, the two of us got to love each other and
when he finally went off permanently to Switzerland with Fred on an unusual
journey aboard a sea going freighter out of New Orleans, well I guess you
can appreciate why I wanted to tell a story from Moose's point of view.

It's a pity that Moose didn't keep a diary! It would have been an
unbelievable story!

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• [PD-LIFE] Moose the Dog and SPICCA by "Vee L. Housman" <>