It all started with Kelso.

Of course you read about Banjo and Millie each time you visit, but there’s a special dog that you haven’t heard about who really started my life-long love affair with dogs, and today marks my third year without her. Her name was Kelso. My sister and I had just lost our bunny rabbit, and my parents thought a puppy would be good for us. They found an ad in the newspaper for some puppies and brought Kelso home to us just in time for Thanksgiving of 1990. Kelso was a fixture in my life from the time I was just a little girl, and lived to be 17 years old. I was 26 when she passed away. She literally watched me grow up. That’s the unique bond I shared with this dog that cannot be replaced, one that will stay with me my entire life. I want to share with you all some memories my family shared with me to remember her publicly today. I hope you enjoy these stories of our special little dog, all 14 pounds of our feisty and loving shih tzu, Kelso.


From my Dad:

We were awakened from a deep sleep around 1:00a.m. on Sunday by her constant, purposeful barking. At the time she was less than a year old, and it was a bark we had never heard before. Kelso had already developed another purposeful bark, intended to convey her displeasure with the quality and speed of the food service, a skill she was able to hone over the next 17 years of her reign. And obviously she was in the kitchen, but where else would you expect her in the wee hours of the morning. The refrigerator door just might accidentally open and a bonanza fall out.  But this bark, though equally purposeful, was clearly distinguishable from a demand or complaint, it was a call to arms. Someone had entered the kitchen through the kitchen window, and she was damn sure no one had ever entered through the kitchen window to feed her.  Of course, the intruder could have entered unheralded, had he but entered the kitchen door carrying a pork chop. But I digress. I loaded my 357 and heeded the call. As I narrowed the gap, the barking suddenly stopped and Kelso and I crossed paths in the foyer. She stopped, cocked her head to one side, which for those of you who are unfamiliar with the shih tzu breed, is somewhat akin to the royal wave, and conveyed the following message: there is a man hiding in the kitchen; he came through the window; he did not have a pork chop; what you do with him from this point on is your own business; I am going to bed; please wake me for breakfast.

From my sister:

Kelso was my best friend from the moment she came home to live with us- that day I was 10 years old, and tiny little Kelso climbed up my baggy pants leg and I was smitten.  I remember dressing her up in our cabbage patch kid fur coats (why does a dog need a second fur coat?) and she just went along with it.  I remember sitting on the floor in front of the TV with her as a child with a bag of chocolate chips- I didn't know of course dogs shouldn't eat chocolate- and she didn't either- we would sit there two peas in a pod- I'd eat one, she'd eat one... Lord only knows why she didn't ever get sick. I also remember as a child sharing my ice cream on a cone with her. We were best friends!

And as we grew up, even when she was pretty old, if I would cry or hurt myself, she would run to my side, lick me and cry too. I even remember fighting with Layne in high school, and Kelso would sit there and bark at us as if to say- "Stop fighting! Let's play!"

Kelso is the dog that spoiled all other dogs for me. She is the reason I love shih tzus so much today, and I miss her so much every day it hurts. 

From my Mom:

In the last year or two of her life, when we sat down to eat, we had to lock her out of the kitchen because of her barking for food. And I remember, one time, accidentally sucking her tail up in the vacuum cleaner.  She avoided me for days, and the vacuum for the rest of her life. Kelso was our first shih tzu, but not our last:  She had 4 puppies (we kept two - Spike and Samantha), Samantha had 5 more.  Then Delaney had 5. Add it up: 15 shih tzus.  Do you think we like the breed?  All because of Kelso.  Check out the names, too: Kelso for Kelley, Samantha for Sam, Delaney for Layne and Penny for Penny. One whacked-out family.

Kelso on the day she came home to us. I was 8!

Sweet Kelso

Kelso with her daughter Sammy at the top, and with me when she was 17!