Gone to the Dogs Week 3: Charlie, Beauty, Precious, and Wolf

Gone to the Dogs Week 3: Charlie, Beauty, Precious, and Wolf

Charlie

Twyla's first dog was named Charlie. His previous owner had mistreated him and had withheld food in an effort to make Charlie mean, but the dog just didn't have it in him to be ferocious. Charlie was nervous and scared of Twyla's family at first, but after Twyla's mom offered him two packs of hot dogs, he knew he was in a good home! Charlie would help Twyla to stand again if she fell down. She would hold onto him for support and Charlie would walk forward, pulling her up.

Twyla with Beauty

Another dog that Twyla particularly remembers is Beauty. The dog would refuse to come near Twyla at first. One day, Twyla began to think that perhaps Beauty was scared of her crutches, so she threw down the crutches and crawled over to her playhouse steps. Beauty came right up to her and sat on her lap! Twyla laughed as she remembers how Beauty, who was nearly as big as she was would lie on top of her if she decided to lie out in the sun in a swimming suit on a lounge chair. She said the chair would start sliding and she was afraid they would both end up sliding off the deck.

Bang, Bang, J.R., You've Been Shot!

Twyla’s dog named Precious actually had a different name when Twyla first welcomed the little Feist into the family. She got the dog in the days when Dallas was a popular TV show, and they called the dog J.R. She would say, “Bang, bang, J.R., you’ve been shot!” and the dog would play dead until she would sing “Up from the Grave He Arose” and then he would hop up to show everyone he was alive. Twyla said that sometimes J.R. would get so excited about playing dead that he would wag his tail while lying there!

Precious, as he was later called, had a knack for picking good employees at Twyla’s father’s plant; her dad learned to regret it if he ignored the dog’s cues when he was interviewing various potential employees. Precious had his own chair and would howl to get attention if Twyla needed help. If that didn't work, Precious would drag Twyla's dad by the britches leg to Twyla's side. Twyla has multiple mobility challenges, and she’s grateful that Precious got her outside more often as that was great physical therapy for her. Even though Precious was not a trained therapy dog, Twyla says that her companion seemed to have natural instincts for helping her and even leaving to get help if she were in need.

Give Me Howdy, Wolf!

Another particularly memorable dog that Twyla had was Wolf, a smart big dog who loved to drink Coca Cola. Twyla taught Wolf how to shake hands. One day, Wolf was hit by a car and unfortunately had to have one front leg removed. That didn’t stop him from giving Twyla howdy though. Wolf would roll over on his back to extend his other front paw for his beloved Twyla. She laughs as she recalls that Wolf always wanted to give howdy twice, once for that leg and once for the missing one. 

The family was very sad when Wolf got sick because they thought he had cancer. The vet also thought the future looked grim, but he ran some tests and discovered that Wolf had a bad case of the flu and would need to stay several days for observation and treatment. The vet ended up calling the family to come get Wolf earlier than he normally would because the dog was grieving so badly to be back home. After they got him home, he did get much better with a lot of TLC from Twyla and her family.

and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, "My father's God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharoah." Exodus 18:4 NIV