Heinz Family Pets Past and Present                                                                back to Heinz Homepage     

1.  "Curly" was our first dog.  The kids patiently waited until Noah was 5 to get him.  He was the best dog we ever had.  He was born in August and died in January.  His paw was run over by a car and eventually it fell off.  We tried and tried to find a vet but there were none at the time.  We made him an artificial leg and he hobbled around on that.  After that we finally did find a vet and had curly vaccinated.  Unfortunately he died from the vaccination because it was too strong.  That's when we learned never to use Russian made vaccines but always imported ones.  Because it was winter we could not burry him so we had to take him to the dump.  His death was one of the saddest moments of my life but we were happy that he was no longer suffering.  So began our string of tragic dog stories.

2.  "Frisky" was our second dog.  He is the black poodle above.  He was born in March of 1999 and died in July of 2002.  We got him the French made vaccines and they didn't kill him.  But he was bitten by an encephalitis carrying tick and became very sick.  By this time we knew a vet and she gave him steroids to keep him alive.  She kept him overnight and he had several heart attacks over the next 48 hours but the vet kept bringing him back.  He made it through but always had a bald spot on his back surrounded by gray fur.  (See photo below).  He was run over by a car one day in July when Molly and I were jogging on the path.  He loved the snow and would often come in caked from head to toe.  We had to use a hair dryer to thaw him out. 

3.  "Chewbaka" or "Chewy" was number 3.  He is the white dog in the photo above right. We decided to get a dog that only an elephant gun could kill.  He was a Caucus Shepherd, the most massive and fierce dog in Kazakhstan.  They are bred for dog fighting.  Chewy used to bark at the water in the irrigation canal behind our house.  He would chase it again and again until it flowed out of our yard.  We always said he wasn't too bright but he did his job with the simple obedience of a child.  We really thought we were going to make it with him but he was stolen a couple of times and found.  The third time the owner maintained that it was his dog.  I knew that wasn't true because I could pet this guy's dog and any other Caucus Shepherd would have eaten my hand.  We don't know how chewy died but he eventually disappeared from our neighbor's yard.

4. and 5.  "Tiger" and "Mr. Frodo" (below) were our first cats.  Lucy bought them on her birthday, June 27, 1999.  They lasted 3 years but left when we went on furlough in March of 2002.  Tiger was especially beautiful.

7.  "Isabel" was our 7th pet and 5th dog.  She was a midsized mutt. We bought her in April and she died in June of Parvo.  Actually I took her to the vet and had her put down because she wasn't going to make it.  She is buried in our yard.  We don't have any photos of her.

10.  "Sam" was our 10th pet and our 2nd German Shepherd. (at Right)  He was a stray and began to sleep in our flower beds in the Summer of 2000.  He had lost his tail somewhere and remained skittish all of his short life.  We had to put him down in the Spring of 2005 because he want crazy.  In those 5 years though he lived up to his namesake "Samwise Gamgee".  There is no higher praise than that.

11.  "Dotty", 12. "Whitey", and  13. "Dash" were all either purchased or found the Spring of 2005.

Dotty is a fox terrier.  See photo below. She was born in Jan of 2005 and lasted until Jan of 2008.  She served faithfully as the church guard dog all that time before going missing on New Years Day of 2008.  We were shooting off fireworks at midnight and she slipped out the gates unnoticed, afraid of the explosions going on all around the neighborhood.  She was beloved by all of our church caretakers.  There is still hope that she may return in the spring.  She was by far the smartest dog I have ever known.  She had puppies and we have one of them at home who has his own story.  His name is Sporty.

14.  "Sporty" is Dotty's son.  (See photo below) He is a mutt fathered by some dog near the church.  He is also a survivor.  He was born in the Summer of 2006 while we were on furlough.  He contracted plague (yes that's right plague) near the end of the summer.  Most dogs die of plague but not sporty.  Amanda nursed him back to health.  He had to go to the vet three times a day for an I.V. and medicine.  Amanda had to give him enemas 2 times a day and keep trying to persuade him to eat.  Finally, after three days he took his first food and the worst was behind him.  We call him our "plague survivor".  He has a temper and fought with Dash so much that we had both of them neutered.  But even that did not stop the fighting completely.  Dash has to watch his step whenever he goes outside and make sure he doesn't go near any of Sporty's bones.

12. Whitey is a Leika, a Russian breed.  She is the white dog in the photo above.  We found her when she was about 5 weeks old walking down the road on one of the coldest days of the year. She still lives!  In fact she had a set of puppies which were put into very good homes.  See the photo below.

13. Dash is a poodle. He is the black dog in the photo above. He is our inside dog.  He was born in March of 2005 and yes he is still alive!  We keep close watch on him as you may imagine.

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Heinz Family Photos 2007

2007 Adding Molly's Office and Our 2nd Floor Prayer Closet