During the summer before his sophomore year at Marquette University, Michael, my son, bought a puppy. Chauncy was one among a 16-pup litter from a pair of fine Weimaraner parents. A friend of Mike’s had bought a young male pup from the litter. Mike was enchanted.
He nabbed the last remaining pup from the litter, a young male that was the runt among his siblings, and Chauncy became a Vanderboom.
Chauncy Vanderboom
Within weeks after the start of the semester, Mike mastered a key fundamental of learning. You just can’t raise a Weimaraner puppy and thrive in a curriculum as challenging as Marquette’s. I got a call.
“Hey, Dad, would ya like to take Chauncy for a while?”
My eyeballs rolled in their sockets. “Why me?” I muttered.
“Ya, my Weimi,” Mike said, willing to trust me with his beloved Chauncy, the first puppy he ever selected on his own.
I felt honored.
We are a family that includes dogs. We’ve had dogs longer than we’ve had children. At the time of Mike’s call for help, we had Katy, a fifteen year old Golden. Cath and I had already decided that we’d try our empty nest without another canine child for a while after Katy passed — an event that could have occured any day.
Mike’s call changed all that.
Chauncy came to stay with us. Katy so liked the company of a young pup so much that she lived another two years before taking that long last walk to the Herenow. Even then, I think she regretted having to go. She seemed truly entertained by the young grey whirlwind that electified our home with genuine and unfettered enthusiasm. We miss Katy, but it is fair to say that Chaunce has fully filled the family’s titre for dog-loving.
Chauncy’s been with us now for five years. It’s been so much fun that even Mike moved back home a year after graduating from college.
This branch of the site is to share Chauncy with the World. He thinks he owns it.