Back in 1997, Dad was fresh out of medical school and he announced that we'd be getting a family pet. We had hamsters, gerbils and a lot of failed attempts at having (well, keeping) fish as pets. It was going to be our first "big" pet. It was going to be....a ferret!! We might've thought "What about a dog? Or something more normal?" Not sure if anyone remembers how it all went down, but we wandered around pet stores one night looking at a cage and everything else that a ferret would need.
Dad decided it would take too much money to own a ferrret so we ended up at the Philly SPCA (Mr. Impulsive leading the way) Mom wanted to either buy the Australian "yippie" dog or the dogs that were already 7+ years old (She's also the one that wants to take a summer vacation to like, Mississippi every year instead of going to the beach. Mr. Impulsive married Ms. Think Outside The Box).
We settled on a dog about a year old named Spike. He came out of his cage and proceeded to pee all over the floor ( it should've been a sign!) So, imagine a family of 7 riding through Philly in a station wagon (complete with wood panels on the side) with a new dog on a February night. The ages were something like Wes (12), Kait (10), Ben (7) and Anna (6) and Ali (1).
We began to throw out new names since Spike wasn't really our style. Wes came up with Chips from a book about Chips the War Dog. We all agreed on it and started to call him Chips every other minute. He then peed and pooed in the car. While Wes brought the extension cord and light through the living room window that night, he broke the glass storm window.
And that was the beginning of our friendship with Chips...
He was very serious about attacking any form of pressured water (mainly from the garden hose) He took that same approach to protecting us from the mail man everyday.
The white fence in this picture is the one that he could jump over without any effort. He would take off running with Wes right behind him. He was hit by a car and bus. Once, on our street an Asian lady (little English spoken) hit him and got out of her car saying "Child? Child?" and we yelled back "No, dog! dog! It's ok!"By that time Chips had left the scene and was still running. What a nut.
Wes used to take him for a "walk" with his roller blades. We can blame him for Chips never learning to walk like a normal dog. But then again, Wes was always the one to chase him down. He got away in the New York Mountains and Wes went after him there. One time Wes got so mad, he threw the leash at Chips....Chips dodged it and the leash slowly fell into the sewer opening on the side of the street. It was priceless.
He loved to get scratched behind his ears and on his neck and chin. He was an inside, outside, inside, outside (how confusing!) dog, but the years that he was inside, he laid under the kitchen table while we ate dinner every night.
He let us stuff his tail in a paper towel roll, put socks on his feet, put baseball jerseys on him and throw camping underwear on his head.
Chips and Chuckles
His friend, Robin, brought him treats on her visits down South.
He liked Mom the best
What a handsome pup he was! Angel thought so...they had about 7 puppies together back in Philly.
He loved his chewies! We have such fun memories with Chippers. We're very thankful that the Lord gave us such a great dog.
The white fence in this picture is the one that he could jump over without any effort. He would take off running with Wes right behind him. He was hit by a car and bus. Once, on our street an Asian lady (little English spoken) hit him and got out of her car saying "Child? Child?" and we yelled back "No, dog! dog! It's ok!"By that time Chips had left the scene and was still running. What a nut.
Wes used to take him for a "walk" with his roller blades. We can blame him for Chips never learning to walk like a normal dog. But then again, Wes was always the one to chase him down. He got away in the New York Mountains and Wes went after him there. One time Wes got so mad, he threw the leash at Chips....Chips dodged it and the leash slowly fell into the sewer opening on the side of the street. It was priceless.
He loved to get scratched behind his ears and on his neck and chin. He was an inside, outside, inside, outside (how confusing!) dog, but the years that he was inside, he laid under the kitchen table while we ate dinner every night.
He let us stuff his tail in a paper towel roll, put socks on his feet, put baseball jerseys on him and throw camping underwear on his head.
Chips and Chuckles
His friend, Robin, brought him treats on her visits down South.
He liked Mom the best
What a handsome pup he was! Angel thought so...they had about 7 puppies together back in Philly.
He loved his chewies! We have such fun memories with Chippers. We're very thankful that the Lord gave us such a great dog.
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