I recently used my Facebook Cover Photo to share my memory of two special dogs…my grandpuppy Otis and his buddy Max. Max belonged to my daughter’s mother-in-law and Otis and Max spent a lot of time together. Otis was just a puppy when Kathy and Steve were first married and I had the privilege of driving to their house on the other side of town to let him out during the day. He was exuberant and playful…often running off when it was time to come inside. He became a loving friend when I was thinking about quitting my job at the time…his hugs were so special! I would stop at McDonalds on my way to let him out and of course I’d share a few chicken nuggets with him. He seemed willing to come inside more quickly. I guess I didn’t hurt his health too much…he lived over 16 years!
“Yes…I’m thinking about you Otis!”
When Kathy and Steve moved closer to Pittsburgh and his mother, Max became a frequent companion for the whole family. Unfortunately, Max was older than Otis and passed away first.
At the time, I was making stuffed dogs for Nittany Greyhounds and trying to alter the pattern to get the greyhound nose shaped just right. Here are a few of the stuffed greyhound dogs I made at the time:
Making the nose longer and the ears shaped differently helped it look more like the greyhounds.
When Max passed away, I wanted to make a memory dog for all of us. I modified the pattern so the ears would be closer to a regular dog shape. Compare the shape of the stuffed Max with his photo above:
I made three of these…one for Kathy’s family, one for her mother-in-law and one for me. Max had meant a lot to us all.
Shortly after that, before Otis passed away, I made black stuffed dogs for all of us. It wasn’t exactly a “memory dog” but a few years later it was perfect. I put away my “Max” and “Otis” at that time, but I think of them frequently.
Two years ago, Kathy’s mother-in-law was cleaning out stuff for a yard sale and wanted to let go of a small child-size table and chairs. Before I put it out for sale, I arranged the two dogs at the table like they were having a tea party. Such fun! You can read about that story here: https://marykisner.com/preserving-a-memory-of-a-childs-table-and-chairs/
I had the photo enlarged and framed for Kathy’s mother-in-law. A great way to preserve the memory without having to keep the table and chairs!
I’ve also used the pattern for the regular-shaped dog to make a memory dog for another family. Using a standard cotton shirt instead of fleece made a whole new challenge. You can read about that here:
https://marykisner.com/making-a-memory-dog/
So that’s the story behind the picture of the stuffed dogs on Facebook! There are many ways to preserve a memory…sometimes just photos will work. In my case, I seem to enjoy making memories that are soft and huggable! Enjoy!