Peaches and the 5 steps.
Way back in the early 70s when I was smack dab in the middle of my elementary school carreer, my parents got us a puppy for Christmas. She was a 9 week old jet black Labrador retriever. My parents were not really animal people, so they didn’t realize what they were in for. I remember waking up the morning after Peaches’s first night with us. She left a bunch of “piles” on the living room carpet. The next night my parents got some expandable gates and decided to isolate Peaches in the kitchen for the night. They put newspaper on the floor. She had a little dog bed that was basically a pillow set inside a cut down cardboard box. Peaches was super smart even as a pup. She flipped her dog bed on its side, jumped on top of it, then got onto a chair and jumped over the gate. She left a bunch more “piles” on the living room carpet for the next morning.
We lived in a suburb outside of Atlanta at the time. I was a rough and tumble kid who loved football. I played little league tackle football during the season. My friends and I would always be playing “Kill the man with the ball” or just scrimmaging out in the yard. As Peaches got older she learned to play with us. She knew right away that whoever had the ball had to be tackled. Then she would basically lick your face off. She even learned how to line up on the scrimmage line and wait for the ball to be hiked. We figured she would always be on defense so neither side would get an unfair advantage. I quickly learned that once I had the ball, the most I would get was about five steps before being brought down. She would tackle us by putting her dewclaws right into our sides just below the rib cage. I was ticklish so I would go down laughing every time and then get my face licked off. If we were playing kill the man with the ball and you got tackled, you had the give the ball up so the next person could run five steps and get tackled and get their face licked off too. It was simply the best version of football ever.
There were other people with dogs in the neighborhood too. In fact Peaches came from our next door neighbor's house. They had a bunch of black labs and kennel runs in their backyard. There was another man around the corner that I think was a K9 officer. He had a very large German Shepard and a kennel run in his yard. That dog was not friendly and would often bark at us when I played at my friend’s house. Her backyard butted up against the dog’s kennel.
Eventually the time came for Peaches to go get spayed. Back then the surgery was much more invasive than it is now. I remember when Peaches came home she had a row of stitches in her belly. She was not allowed outside until the stitches had time to heal up. We all wanted to play, so we went a few doors down to a friend’s house so that we would not be right outside making Peaches crazy in the window. There were at least a half dozen children all playing kill the man with the ball like we always did. My brother is a couple of years younger than I am and he was there too. At one point I got tackled and gave up the ball. I rolled over onto my hands and knees to get up when I realized everyone was frozen in place. As I looked up the German Shepard was right in the midst of us with its teeth bared. It was growling, and we all knew that the first person to move was going to get bitten. I realized that there was nowhere within five steps that I could escape to. Time came to a halt. I kept my eyes fixed on the German Shepard not knowing what to do. That’s when a funny thing happened. As I was staring that this dog, I noticed a little black dot emerge from the far side of our house down the street. It started grow and that’s when I realized it was coming at us at full speed. Peaches had escaped! Nobody moved and as she got closer, her face looked like the nose cone of a P51 Mustang all painted up for war. At the last second she lowered her head and t-boned the German Shepard at full speed. Not only did she knock the dog off of his feet, but he flew a good ten yards before he hit the ground. It was a two hit fight. She hit him and he hit the ground. When the German Shepherd regained his feet, Peaches chased him all the way down the street. Peaches wasn't’t even a year old yet and she was only half the other dog’s size.
We ran down the street after her and brought her back home. Peaches saved us all that day.
I would like to say that we all lived happily ever after, but it was not to be. My mom and dad got into a shouting match one day and Peaches walked into the middle of it. She sat at my mom’s feet and bared her teeth at my dad. At that point they decided to re-home her. They had some friends that owned a farm out in the country. We went out there one weekend and brought Peaches with us. I got to interact with a horse while I was there and I saw Peaches herding chickens. That was her new place. It was heartbreaking to leave her there and she left a huge hole in my heart when she was gone. My dad told me that the people at the farm sold Peaches off to some hunters. She would have been a great hunting dog I suppose. I never saw her again after that.
Decades later as an adult I was at a gas station with my dog Cisco. He’s the dog in my avatar. A man about the same age as me with young kids in the car said that he would love to get a dog for his children. I told him that if he wanted a dog, that he should get one for himself and not for his children. I told him that he would be the one walking feeding and cleaning up after the dog. I also told him that if he’s never had a dog, to go adopt an older one as his first dog. Puppies are not for first time dog owners. Anyway, that’s my “Lassie Story” and I’m sticking too it!
(apoligies for any grammar errors. My editor ran off with my house cleaner apparently. 
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Spell check went all whack-doodle on me so I was getting frustrated. I ended up getting covid last month and these memories came flooding back. I asked my brother if he remembered this and he replied, "like it was yesterday". 
The great escape from the kitchen was hilarious. What's a few puppy piles when the puppy proves you've got a genius on your hands? 
And then she escaped again to save you from harm.
I'd like to think her new owners gave her plenty of love along with the fresh air and exercise, but I bet you and your family visited her now and then, in her doggy dreams, all her life.
