Tuesday, February 12, 2013

February Faces: A Good Dog


There have been so many good dogs in our life. I'm sure many of you feel that way too. Today I'm writing about a dog we once belonged to, a miracle dog, a Welsh corgi named Tex. There were three puppies left in his litter in 1989 and by golly, he was the big boy of the litter and the cutest. He made it clear from the beginning that we four were his new family.

He was the result of our love of the corgis in Tasha Tudor's illustrations. It was only later that we learned that Queen Elizabeth loved them too. We were after a corgi from The Corgiville Fair. And we got him. Tex loved each member of our family but he was my personal shadow.


A few years later a little corgi sister joined him. Her name was Dallas and she adored her big brother.


Tex was not thrilled but he was very much a Gentleman Welsh corgi and accepted that she was his responsibility, as was a yellow cat named Jake.


On February 13, 1993 R.H. and I left Tex, Dallas and Jake at home while we drove to Chattanooga, Tennessee for Zack's basketball tournament. Defee went too, of course, and we asked our oldest son to come over to let the corgis go potty. We arrived home that night, went in the house. Only Dallas and Jake were waiting for us. We searched the house and I frantically phoned Gurn to learn that when he went out to bring the corgis back inside that Tex was gone. He drove up and down the road but could not find him. We searched the whole valley with flashlights and then R.H. and I drove to all the neighbors up and down the street. Some had seen him in their yards but didn't know who he belonged to. We did not have an identification tag on him.

After a sleepless night of crying and praying, we were up early on St. Valentine's Day digging through photographs so that R.H. could go get copies made while I made up posters for a lost corgi. We plastered the area with them and stopped along the way to leave pictures and our business card. The next day I called every veterinarian in the county, leaving our number and description of Tex. I called in ads for the newspapers. The dog pound and shelters were closed due to President's Day.


It snowed and I thought constantly of my Tex who, although he loved snow, always slept in our bed and had never been left out at night. Now, was he outside somewhere in the cold snow, all alone? Was he even alive? On Tuesday Gurn and I expanded the area, leaving more posters. We went miles away to grocery stores and gas stations and schools that Tex's short little legs could never have walked to. Gurn, devastated that I was brokenhearted, drove me for hours until I said, "Let's go home." We were all numb the whole week as we mailed out pictures to veterinarian clinics, visited the dog pound daily, drove up and down streets following the few leads that were phoned in to us. Through the whole week, R.H. had unshakable faith that God would bring Tex home to our family.


Late Friday afternoon I got a phone call from a woman who said, "I have your dog!" I was almost speechless. She said she saw our poster at the Piggly-Wiggly and they had him. The Saturday before, they had been at the gas station 3 1/2 miles from us and he was in the parking lot and almost got run over. They opened the door and called him and he jumped in the car. Tex was always ready to go for a ride and the route he walked to this gas station, at a busy intersection, was the route we took every weekday to drive our sons to school, Tex along for the ride most of the time.


We arranged to meet her at that same gas station. They pulled up in a Chevy Lumina, three children in the back seat. The woman got out of the car and I ran to the open door and saw a white stripe running between the eyes of the corgi in the front floorboard. I fell to my knees on the pavement, leaning across the driver's seat. Tex jumped into my arms. R.H. picked him up to carry him to the car. I hugged the lady, gave her a small reward, and thanked her over and over. I explained how Tex got out. She said they had taken good care of him, calling him Joe, going outside with him to go potty where he wouldn't get lost again.


Now, here is the spine tingling part of this story. The woman's younger sister, speech and hearing impaired, came in that very day from out of town for a visit and went with her to the Piggly-Wiggly. As they walked in the door, in a hurry to buy groceries for the weekend, her sister grabbed her arm and pointed to the poster of Tex. They took down the poster and when they got home they called him Tex. His ears perked up and he ran to them.

R.H. drove us home, Tex going back and forth between Defee and me in the back seat, kissing us. When we let Dallas out of the house Tex began jumping around excitedly, so happy to see his sister.


We spent an hour loving on him and thanking God for bringing him home to us and calling Gurn and our daughter with the good news. Then we left to go pick up Zack at his basketball game, a coat over Tex to hide him. When Zack got in the car he saw the coat move and then saw Tex. In a quiet, stunned voice he said, "You've got Tex." What a happy reunion we all had! Once again Tex slept in bed with us and the next day R.H. bought an engraved identification tag with our phone number on it. God brought Tex back to us and he used a special young lady to bring it about.

Tex lived to be 12 years old. For six months after his hind legs failed him, we carried him outside in a little red wagon to take care of his business. The last few years of his life, after his little sister Dallas died unexpectedly, he shared his home with a little red dachshund named Penelope. A Gentleman Welsh corgi to the very last, he was good to her.




Tex was a good dog.





21 comments:

  1. We love dog stories,Dewena. Tex's story is extra special!

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  2. I firmly believe God sends us the animals we need and we'll stand before God, one day in Glory, to answer for our stewardship. Tex was and blessing in your lives, then and now. Thank God for answered prayer!

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  3. What a blessing to have Tex in your family. I am so glad that young lady rescued him.

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  4. I just really enjoyed this tale of Rex! Anyone who loves dogs is OK by me!!!! I imagine it was a sad day when Tex decided to go join Dallas, if just until you can come pick them up again! :) Sandy

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  5. Crying too hard to make a comment this morning... what a wonderful story and how wonderful a dog Tex must have been.

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  6. Ohhh goodness gracious!!
    So glad that you got Tex back!!
    Yes in deed - such a good dog!!

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  7. What a wonderful story. We sure are blessed to have critters in our lives.

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  8. I'm so glad that story had a happy ending...(with tears in my eyes). This past summer there was a dog lost. They searched everywhere but to no avail. Once in awhile she was spotted but so scared she ran off. A stranger from the next town over was visiting and saw her. He set out a live trap with some food and she was caught in it the next day. He didn't know who she belonged to but when he told his story at the local restaurant they immediately called the owners who were more than delighted to get her back. She was gone for three months. Every day there is an ad in our paper with a picture of a lost bird dog. Its owner came here to hunt and the dog ran off. He won't go home until the dog is found. With our extreme temperatures we are only hoping that someone has taken this pedigree dog in for the winter.

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  9. I'm so glad your story of Tex had a happy ending when he was found. A similar thing happened to our friends. Their "granddog" got lost on their watch, and they were devastated. Long story short,after much driving country roads and calling and searching, they found him after a day. We were all ecstatic!

    It sounds as if your pets are well-loved. We don't have a dog, but we often keep our granddogger, Molly, and we love her. She is so sweet and loves to be glued to our side when she is here to visit.

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  10. Oh what a sweet story! Tex had a wonderful life with a family that loved him! These pictures are precious!

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  11. Truly a heart warming story. I'm so glad he was returned to you. Our cat Nuit went missing for 9 days. He is a favorite of our eldest daughter, who lives overseas. She was excited about seeing him on her home visit, and I didn't have the heart to tell her he was missing. We prayed hard. The day before she came, Nuit sauntered in the door the way only a cat can, acting as if nothing had happened. Thank goodness. We've since gotten use to his traveling antics.

    By the way, I did answer your question about the fruit cake. I got so excited in answering, I forgot to thank you for your kind words. Thank you. :)

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  12. Oh for pete's sake you have me crying ....

    WHAT a story!

    And you had me all amazed from the beginning because I had a huge interest in Tasha Tudor in the past and the minute you wrote "CORGI" I had her in mind!

    Beautiful beautiful story, Dewena :) Now off to blow nose and mop up tears!

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  13. What a lovely and sweet story you shared. How wonderful for Tex to have had a family such as yours.
    Mary Alice

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  14. Awwww. What a special dog. Sitting here watching Westminster, it was the perfect post for the moment.

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  15. Oh this was such a sweet story and I am so glad that you got him back! I also loved all the pictures of your pets (and you looked very pretty too!)

    We once found a dog outside during a really bad rainstorm. It was December and he was hiding under the eaves of the garage. We brought him it, fed him, gave him a bath and a place to sleep and tried to find his owners.

    Sad to say we never did. The vet said judging by the condition of his paws and his health, he had probably been wandering and eating out of garbage cans for four or five months. Poor little guy. The vet said he wouldn't have survived the winter. He was the sweetest dog and we named him "Mystery."

    We gave him to a friend who loved him to pieces. She got another dog and then he eventually died after many years. So she got another dog and that brought her back to two dogs again. Then she moved into a new home and one of the dogs ran away.

    We were all heartbroken (I used to dog-sit all her dogs for her when she went out of town) but she never found him. So eventually she decided to get one more dog to get up to her two-dog ratio, but she couldn't choose and so now she has three dogs, lol!

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  16. Tex sounds like the sweetest of fellows. I'm so glad you found him, that he came back home to you. I love the photo of him and Dallas sleeping; they look so happy. Thank you for sharing such a lovely story (and pictures) about Tex.

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  17. Tex was the best dog in the world! He was my best friend all thru jr high and high school. I never thought I could love a dog more than I loved Tex until I got my sweet Bentley! Bentleys personality reminds me a lot of Tex. I'll never forget getting into our old white Oldsmobile that night up in pleasant view and pulling back that coat and seeing that wonderful Corgi looking back at me!! Many times through out my life my faith in God and my faith in the power of prayer has waned from time to time but all I have to do is remember how long and hard I prayed for God to please return Tex to me and I know that He heard the prayers of a 13 year old boy and now no matter how silly some of my prayers may seem He always hears them! I still miss Tex to this day! But I'm so thankful for the 8 more years I got to spend with him that I almost didn't have! God bless dogs! A truer statement has never been spoken, "dogs are mans best friend"

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  18. Well said Zack.Yeah Tex was super cool!Always sweet with his kind eyes.All the dogs we have had have given us so many good memories. Life just wouldn't be the same without our dog family members.

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  19. well dewena. (and I should have known how lovely you'd be)
    I don't know if you'll see this.
    i'm writing through tears.
    i love dogs more than people even. shouldn't admit? but I do. can't help it. always have. and the story of little tex just near broke my heart. then it had such a happy ending . . . then of course i knew it would end anyway. but still . . . he was valiant and your tex always.
    a most amazing and beautiful tribute to a wonderful little fellow.
    they give us something in our lives that nothing else can.
    have a wonderful break from blogging!
    looking forward to your return!

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  20. I have tears in my eyes, Dewena. Oh my, what a wonderful story. Just before I read this, I was telling Don how frantic I would be if Scout ever went missing. I can only imagine the fear you all felt. But what a happy ending!

    xo
    Claudia

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