The Story of Danny

Danny is running like the wind chasing rabbits through the fields. Danny and I had a few special funny mannerisms that we did. One being I would kneel over him while he was lying on his side on the floor and cradle his head in one arm and tuck his nose into my inner elbow. Another was I would slide my hand between his hip and the floor when he was lying down and then he would stretch out and let out a happy groan. On the first day we brought him home, I tickled his little belly and said "tickle tickle tickle" and he remembered it throughout his life whenever I did it again. Another silly game we played was usually right before our walk in the garage. I would turn my back on him and then turn around very quickly to startle him and he would smile and pretend to be in fighting stance. I would repeat it a few times over and we had fun with it. I could tell he was laughing. Sometimes when he was lying down I would pretend to grab all of his legs in both my hands and pretend to pull them off, but I just slipped my hands down his legs in one quick motion. At first he didn't like it because he thought I was really going to do it but after a few times he understood that I was only being silly.

I called him Dannyboy alot but I also called him cutieboy when I was petting him and showing my affection. Duke and Danny used to jog with me at night after I got home from work when we lived in Mission. We would jog or run a large loop around the neighborhood and the toughest part for me especially was Cade Barr hill. It was very steep and it was exhausting to run all the way to the top, even with help from the boys pulling me up with the leashes! When Danny was young he could really run fast and could easily jump up onto high ledges and into the back of the truck. After we all moved to Chilliwack, the boys and I began hiking through the bush and eventually up the trails of Mount Thom that was right across the street from us. It wasn't long before we started running up the trails and take a break at the top for water and a breather. I had to purchase water packs for us because it made us so thirsty. We would usually run down the mount most of the way too. I would have them off leash for that because we really flew down the steep trail and if we came across any other people or dogs, Duke and Danny would just follow me with no bother to be distracted. 

For both Duke and Danny I would quite regularly cook up beef liver in a pan as an extra nutritional treat. I fried the chopped liver in a little oil, dill weed or tarragon, and turmeric. I would mix it in with their dog food and boy did they love it! I also reserved some for me because I've always liked liver too. When Danny was a puppy I introduced him to a homemade diet that I was already feeding Duke. I bought a bag of grade AAA Chuck beef from Rempel's Meats on Downes Road in Abbotsford and blanched small chunks of it for the boys. We usually mixed te beef with boiled potatoes and carrots, sometimes sweet potato. We also fed them boiled stewing chicken instead of beef sometimes. They eat this diet for quite a few years if I remember but then I think it became too rich for them and I switched back to commercially prepared canned and dry food, usually mixing in a can of sardines or leftover chicken.

In warm weather I would drive the boys to the Hayward Lake dog beach in Mission. Sometimes there was a little floating dock there that they could jump off into the water. Duke couldn't get enough of it but Danny was a little more hesitant and probably only jumped off because Duke did and wanted to follow him. Sometimes I swim with them if it was warm enough but usually I just threw the ball into the lake to watch Duke jump in and swim as fast as he could to fetch it, with Danny following behind. I had them wear my SEA DOGG collar that I invented and sold on my website for years. Alot of the time Danny would wait on the shore and try to block Duke from getting out of the water. He really thought that was funny but I think Duke was mostly annoyed at him for doing that. It was really fun to watch because Danny was having a really good time even though he wasn't swimming after the ball. Danny also like to socialize with any other dogs at the beach whereas Duke was mainly focused on swimming for his ball! When Danny swam in the water the white tip of his tail would protrude from the water.