52 Ancestors, Week 18: Pets

petrini1

May 1

My grandmother and mother, with Tippy the dog at their feet. My mother is holding Tippy's puppy. This was probably taken in 1945.

Week 18 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project is all about pets. The challenge, created by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow, supplies a different prompt each week for exploring our families. This week's prompt is pets.

We never had a dog when I was growing up. I'm not complaining; I'm really not a dog person. We had a couple of rabbits, and the occasional gerbil or fish. And we had two of those little turtles that aren't supposed to be sold anymore.

We were told we couldn't have a dog because my mom didn't like them. In fact, she was never much for pets at all. So I was surprised as a child to learn that my mother did have a dog when she was growing up, a dog named Tippy.

Until recently, I'd never seen a photo of Tippy. But a few months ago, my mother gave me a pile of old family photographs -- including one of her as a small child, sitting with my grandmother. That's Tippy lying at their feet. And if you look carefully, you can see that my mother is holding a smaller dog, Tippy's pup.

My mother is still not much of a pet person -- and in particular, she is not a dog person. But she clearly made an exception for Tippy.

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