Chocolate Robbery!

Blackie~1958

Our blonde Cocker Spaniel Ben is pictured in my sidebar, he's a part of our family and we dote on him since our grandkids don't live close. Old people and pets are funny, we "talk" for Ben...

"Ben says he's hungry,"

"Ben says he wants to go for a walk,"

"Ben says he needs a bite of bacon."

Most of it does revolve around food, but when your kids are grown you put off those feelings of nurturing onto the "furry kids" in your house.



When I was growing up in the 1950's we had a black Cocker Spaniel. Blackie was a sweet little thing, her only vice was barking at the garbage men. That's probably not a proper term these days, sanitation engineer...is that better? Anyway, Blackie was a very good little dog and minded my Mom with just a few words of encouragement. Most of the time she was curled up in a a corner of the room or laying out on the porch in nice weather. I don't think Mom and Dad ever bought dog food back then, she ate food scraps from our plates. Now we are chastised by our vets for ever doing any such thing. But you know, Blackie was a slim fit little dog and my Ben eats Science Diet and he's got a serious weight problem so who knows.



Back to my story, my brother and I got 50 cents for allowance back then. We would usually spend it on chocolate! On Friday night we'd accompany our parents on their weekly shopping trip. My brother had bought a bag of Hershey's Kisses and hid them under his bed. He must have felt the need to do that, I was the typical little sister who prowled around in his room when he was gone! The next day was Saturday and life at my house meant lawn mowing, car washing and I just tried to stay out of everyone's way. You can imagine my surprise when my brother stormed into my room and interrupted my doll party. He was furious with me for "stealing" his Hershey Kisses. I couldn't get a word in sideways, we were just before coming to blows! Mom quickly came to my rescue and promptly started the interrogation. "Did you take your brother's candy?" ...when our little Cocker Spaniel Blackie sauntered in the room at our feet. Jet black, the silver foil was still around her mouth...kind of like Christmas decorations! She was licking and trying to loosen the bits of foil that remained in her mouth, clearly the culprit in the Chocolate Robbery! That dog had eaten several ounces of chocolate, it didn't kill her. It didn't even make her sick. She just curled up in a corner and took a nice long nap!