Sentimental Sunday: My First Dog, Gow

Circa 1966

I was looking through some old photos last night and found some of my very first dog, Gow. Mom and Dad got Gow, a Border Collie, when I was a baby, and he was quite a dog. He had such a sweet personality, and was good with us kids. I loved that puppy so much that I named a succession of stuffed dogs after my own Gow. I still have one of my ratty, old stuffed Gow dogs from when I was a toddler, and it sits at the foot of my bed as a reminder of my old furry friend.

Like most Border Collies, Gow was smart as a whip, and talented, too. One of his favorite tricks was to ride our tricycle. It wasn't a trick we taught him, either. He just figured it out on his own. He'd put his front paws on the back of the trike, push with this back legs and steer with his nose. Eventually, as I recall, that tricycle pretty much became his own toy.

Our talented Gow

Sadly, Gowie didn't stay with us for long. We lived out in the country, and one night, when I was five or six years old, he was hit by a car on the road outside our house. That was such a sad time for us all, but Gow marked the beginning of our family's love of Border Collies.

My mom now has the sweetest Border Collie you'll ever know, Blaise, and we've been lucky to have her in our lives for 13 years.