Dedication To Dutchess

The Dutchess Of My Great Grandmother’s Life - 1942 to 1957

Before my parents met each other my father joined the Navy in WWII.  He had recently purchased a female AKC Pekingese puppy and named her Dutchess.  When he left to serve his duty his Grandmother in Seattle Washington agreed to take care of little Dutchess.  After Dad’s return he found that his Grandmother could not bear giving little Dutchess back to him.  Great Grandmother was in her 90s and my father decided he could not take Dutchess out of her loving arms.  It was a good decision and Dutchess and Great Grandmother lived out their natural lives very happily together.  I remember seeing them together when I was young.

The Dutchess Of My Mother and Father’s Life - 1947 to 1962

My father was still a young bachelor and decided to travel across the US visiting relatives and friends along the way.  He was introduced to my mother during his travels which stopped him on the spot in a little town in Oklahoma.  They were married in 1946 and they found and purchased a new female AKC Pekingese puppy of their own and named her Dutchess.  I was born in 1948 and some of my first memories are laying on the floor on a blanket with Dutchess next to me.  I remember the feeling of her long soft hair between my tiny baby fingers.

That Dutchess was an important part of my youth and taught me to appreciate the sheer joy of sharing life with a Pekingese.  While this Dutchess was still alive my father brought home another purebred, but unregistered Pekingese female puppy, which I promptly adopted as my own.  Her name was Bubbles and we were inseparable.  I tried to take her with me when I married my husband in 1966, but Bubbles missed the rest of the family and made it clear to my husband that he was not a welcome addition to her life when it came to him sleeping in the same bed with us.  We decided to leave her with my parents and I visited her everyday.

The Dutchess Of My Life – May 1966 to May 1982

A couple of weeks after getting married my husband and I started looking for our own little AKC Pekingese baby girl.  We lived in the country in Eastern Washington and did not know how to find a Pekingese puppy that summer in 1966.  We knew there was a kennel that sold various puppies about 2 hours drive from us.  We didn’t know the name of the kennel or phone number so we took a chance and went for a little trip.  The kennel was in the mountains and as we got out of the car we saw a beautiful large yard.  In the yard there were a few sections of chain link fencing that created large individual pens for the dogs and puppies for sale.  In the first pen, way in the back corner, sitting in grass almost as tall as she was, there was a little Pekingese puppy.  I will never forget watching her as she waddled through the grass toward my fingers sticking through the fence.  I didn’t stop to think about her pedigree, quality, or anything a knowledgeable buyer would look for.  I was not the least bit knowledgeable.  I only knew that I loved THAT puppy, forever.  I named her Dutchess, of course.  She was our only child for five years and when I had to say good-bye to her at 15 years old, my heart broke and I still miss her as much today as that first day without her.  Fortunately we had already added another AKC Pekingese (white, named Buffy) she seemed to understand as she helped me continue through the next 12 years until she too left me behind.  I believe our beloved pets will be there with us on the other side.

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Dutchess

 

Two brown eyes look out at me

As I walk to the kennel run.

 

The fence so tall, and you so small

I almost didn’t see you.

 

Your eyes, a magnet that pulled at my heart as

I reached down and touched nose.

 

You kissed it with your loving tongue and

We knew we were meant for each other.

 

From that moment you were mine and I was yours,

From young to old your lifetime passed so quickly.

 

Fifteen years was not enough.

What would I do without you?

 

My little dog, my dear friend,

Always there when I needed an ear.

 

A pixy among giants who brightened my life,

My blessing in fur, my bundle of love.

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The Dutchess Of My Dreams - 4/23/2005 to 6/14/2010

Dutchess on 10-22-2005 – Fourwinds Time To Glow - 6 months old

Over the years I tried other small breeds and found that there is nothing that can compare to a Pekingese for me.  I purchased an AKC pointed ‘Best Of Show’ Pekingese from Bess Pickens in  Spokane WA when my daughter was young, but my daughter and that little girl became inseperable so she was definitely not my next ‘Dutchess’.  In 2005 I purchased three AKC Pekingese from Robert Jackson at Fourwinds Pekingese, all on the same day.  They were flown across the US to my waiting arms.  The moment I touched Fourwinds Time To Glow I knew that she was meant to be my next Dutchess and was the Dutchess of my dreams.  She and the other show quality Pekingese were something I had only imagined owning and loving my entire life.  This Dutchess had one litter of beautiful Pekingese babies sired by my Champion Fourwinds Papadeaux  on 6/30/2008.  As the puppies grew I find that one was touching my heart as other Dutchess’ have always done.  I couldn’t keep myself from calling her Dutchess too.  She was my ‘Little Baby Dutchess’.  What a joy it was to raise my own Dutchess from birth.  I thought everything was settled for my Dutchess needs for many coming years.  Suddenly everything changed when our house burned down, injured myself, my husband, and our daughter, and killed most of our pets.   In loving memory forever, this Dutchess and her entire litter perished in the fire on 6/14/2010. There are no words to describe our grief over the loss of our pets.  We still struggle to get through each day without them, but our suvivors and new Pekingese help tremendously.

The Dutchess Of My Current Years – 2/26/2011 and continuing…

Dutchess at 9 months old – Northwind’s Whirl Wind

For months after our fire I felt that I could never think of getting another Pekingese.  The losses were too great to comphrehend in any rational way.  The grief was too overwhelming to even breath without more pain, let alone think about ‘moving forward’.  My friend had a litter of AKC Pekingese puppies and asked me to take some males until they sold.   At first I did not want to be around new Pekingese, birds, cats, or dogs of any breed because of the grief, but agreed because she needed my assistance and she had helped me so much after the fire with my surviving Pekes.  It turned out to be the perfect grief recovery therapy that I, my husband, and daughter needed more than anything else.  I can personally testify to the healing power of a new pet when anyone has gone through the grief of losing a pet.  I always knew that on an individual pet loss basis, but since it was also the best medicine for losing many pets at once, it has proven itself to be the right direction to go for our family, and I’m sure it could be the same for anyone else after the death of a beloved pet or multiple pets.  The next thing I knew I was looking for my new Dutchess.  I turned to my breeder friends who had show Pekingese dogs and puppies, praying they would allow me to buy at least one.  Katerings, Northwinds, and Degray’s Pekingese all helped me find exactly what our family wanted and needed most.  They gave or sold me a number of stunning, wonderful show quality Champions and puppies from Championed parents.  Their bloodlines include many other well-known champion lines, including Fourwinds which takes us right back to the Fourwinds Pekes we lost in the fire.  What a wonderful blessing God provided us to reaffirm life and keep on going through these amazing Pekingese and our friends who owned and bred them.  My next Dutchess was among them.  She is beautiful and as attached to me as all my other Dutchesses were before her.  A perfect fit.  Thank you for being with me again, my darling sweet Dutchess of past and present.

I’m sure now that I will never be without a Dutchess in my life again.  Thank you to all the Dutchess’ I’ve loved before, now, and in the future.  You have each given me the gift of that special something that cannot be put into words, but my heart will treasure forever.

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