Memories of my first dog, Speedwagon ... named after REO Speedwagon ....
I never had a dog or cat as a kid ... my Mom and Dad didn't have a fondness for them ... my first pet was a goldfish and then a hamster ....
After Maria and I married and were back in da Big Easy (New Orleans) in the mid 80s, James - my brother-in-law - gave us a lively bulldog named "Speedwagon," after the the REO group famous back then ...
I had so much fun walking Speedwagon as my first canine ... and it was so energenic ... but we had to give it away after a few months after a bad bout with fleas and a child in the household.
Not long after we returned REO to James, it was unfortunately killed being run over ... but I'll always "keep on loving you, Speedwagon ...."
I've always liked bulldogs. I think they are so cute and friendly. When I was a kid we've always had dogs in our family. However, we've been only having one German Shepherd after another.
I was hoping that the video was of your bulldog. My dad was fond of bringing home puppies. When my twin brother and I tipped over beehives at two, our little rat terrier, Rags, defended us and almost died in the process. He almost died again later when he got locked in the house by accident when we went on a two week vacation and survived by eating the drapes.
Always on the move and never having children, I never time for a pet until a grad assistant gave me his little pomeranian when he could no longer keep him in a divorce. Jazz was my buddy until he was killed by a big dog in a tragic story I wrote here called Jazz's Death.
I never considered bulldogs to be energetic, but I suppose they are as puppies, because all puppies are energetic. I always thought of them as rather overweight, wheezing and lethargic just like their mentor and look-alike, Winston Churchill. ;-)
The first thing I thought of was that the REO Speedwagon was the nickname of a real truck built by Ransom E. Olds. He built his first car in the early 1890s and it was very popular because of the jingle that was used to sell it… "Come ride with me Lucille, in my merry Oldsmobile…" It is really too bad that after over 100 years in production, General Motors saw fit to remove Oldsmobile from its line of cars after being bailed out from bankruptcy I believe, in 2009. My father loved Oldsmobiles and my Toronado was the fastest thing on wheels while still being very comfortable to drive.
"And that," as Paul Harvey used to say, "Is the rest of the story."
Puffy strays and something happens to make him decide he will never run away again. Judged "Outstanding" at the 2013 Writers Digest SPB Awards. Named among the best in family-friendly media, products and services 2019 by the Mom’s Choice Awards®.
I never had a dog or cat as a kid ... my Mom and Dad didn't have a fondness for them ... my first pet was a goldfish and then a hamster ....
