Lucille & Brownie

His name was Brownie. He was the family dog but loved my grandmother like no other. My grandmother had a friend they called ‘brown’. Not sure if this was his last name or a nickname because his complexion was brown. I thought he gifted Brownie to my grandmother and named him because of his color. But I never asked my grandmother, so I am just guessing.

Unlike what we see today with these spoiled and pampered doggies, Brownie was independent. We did not take him for walks. We did not take him for scheduled vet visits. All care was done in house by my grandmother. I guess an analogy would be having a car and keeping it clean and operative but never taking it in for service.

Brownie was a dog's dog. We opened the door in the morning and he walked outside and snooped within his dog-imposed boundaries. He would walk to the back of the house, and up and down portions of the street, never getting lost. In the 70's most families did not treat dogs like children. The dog didn't lay in the bed with us. We didn't let the dog kiss us in the face nor did we buy outfits for them. We kinda treated them like - dogs.

Brownie’s small stature and cute face belied the fiestyness in him, though.This was the most comical part of his personality. When my grandmother would come home from work, Brownie would go from 0 to 100, real quick.

Around 7 oclock each week day, Brownie would stand at the top of the front steps looking up the street. He would see that yellow Buick turn and come down Rockrose and he would then go into attack mode. Brownie would chase away anyone near our front yard or my grandmother's "reserved" parking space. Kids that were cruising on bikes suddenly went into 'haul ***' mode, pedaling as fast as they could while thrusting a kick toward Brownie like a boxer throwing a jab. He would chase cars seemingly attempting to bite the tires.

A sweet little dog that was fearless in protecting my grandmother.

In 1981, after a brief illness, Brownie passed away peacefully in our back yard,but not before leaving so many fond memories of his antics. I sometimes think of Brownie when I see the affection shown to dogs. I understand why now. Dogs often display more love and human qualities than humans do. And, I could not talk about growing up without including Brownie in my story.