Gerrie and Bogey
By Gerrie Ferris Finger
We lost our Italian Greyhound in an odd way that I will briefly say may have been a dognapping disguised as a traffic accident. The Atlanta agency that picks up road kill reported no little gray body had been picked up at the top of the street where the “suspect” kidnapper said he was hit.
It was a couple of years before I was ready to adopt another dog.
I was working as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and had gone to Piedmont Park to get reaction to a crime story I was working. I came across two women who were willing to answer questions. They each had a black Standard Poodle. Tall guys, beautiful, long hair wafting in the breeze.
I went home and told my husband it was time to get a dog, and I had just the breed in mind. When I said Poodle, he held up his hand. You know the reaction. I said, promise, only one pom and that will be on his tail.
The Piedmont Park ladies told me the name of their breeder. We made an “appointment” to view two black “standies.” When they brought the “babies” out, I thought they were the parents. At three months, the pups were huge. Our breeder explained they were bred for height, at least 30 at the withers. Turned out they raised show dogs. Bogey, who was unnamed then, ran straight to my husband. Bogey had selected him, before his litter mate had a chance to get a nod in. Then we were interviewed like we were adopting a human baby. We were accepted with the caveat that if anything went wrong, we were to bring the poodle back to the breeder — no rescue outfits or humane societies, please.
Bogey has always been a handful. The afternoon of his homecoming, he looked out the window when I was talking to my agent on the phone. He barked up a storm. My agent said, “You got a German Shepard?” Trainers have thrown up their hands, calling him a stubborn cuss who defies words like “stay” and “come.”
People ask about his name. No, it’s not from Humphrey Bogart. I play golf. I’m a bogey golfer.
Bogey has baskets of toys. No need to put them away; he takes them all out and replaces them exactly where they were. When I have a book giveaway contest, he chooses the winner from tennis balls numbered and thrown in his toy box. They correlate to a list of names. He thinks this is a barrel of fun.
Betsy
Gerrie
Gerrie Ferris Finger won The Malice Domestic/St. Martin’s Minotaur Best First Traditional Novel Competition for The End Game, which was released by St. Martin’s Minotaur in April 2010. The sequel, The Last Temptation was published in 2012 and The Devil Laughed in 2013. Murmurs of Insanity will be released in July 2014.
