Animal Adventures

Jiggs

When my parents decided to move to San Francisco from Saratoga, I didn’t take to the idea well. I didn’t want to leave my horse or my friends. I had finally been in one place, lots of different houses, but still in one place for long enough to make a connection with people and a real bond with my horse. I was fourteen, not a very good age. We went anyway and I was too young to say no but I insisted that my horse come too. Where do you put a horse in San Francisco? Where can you ride in the city? I had always lived in the country and had never been to a big city. My parents agreed and we set about looking for a place to board my horse. What a surprise we got. There were several stables out at Lake Merced on the beach, one was for privately owned horses and one was for rentals. They were perfect and you could ride down to the beach and along the sea for miles, as a matter of fact San Francisco is designed for horses. I could ride all the way to Golden Gate Park and there was even a cross-walk with a horseshoe in it for the horses to know when to cross the busy street. Once inside Golden Gate Park, the places to go were endless and all designed for horses. There were even horse paths down the center dividers on the highway but all covered in trees and flowers so that drivers couldn’t see them. I could ride all the way to Ghirardelli Square without ever going on the road and at each crossing there was that horseshoe stop-light telling you when it was safe to cross. In Golden Gate Park there were race tracks, jumping courses and paths that went on for miles. It really was some of the best riding country I have ever ridden in. We also got to ride with the mounted police when they were on duty. Who would have thought? I soon made friends to ride with there. The only problem was that on one stretch of the beach between my stables and Golden Gate Park was a nudist beach, which made me feel a bit self-conscious as a young teen. We learned to ignore them and had great adventures. Jiggs, my horse, was so babied that it took him some adjusting to not seeing me every day and living in a box stall. It was very funny because as you went down the mountain to the beach there would be horses just stopped anywhere all the way to the beach. They were the rental horse who had learned that they had to get far enough away from the stables not to be sent back out but not any further. People tried everything to make them move but they wouldn’t budge and then at the end of the hour, with or with out rider, the horse would return to the stables. One day while my friend and I were riding past the nudist beach on our way to Golden Gat Park a nude man leap-frogged onto the back of my horse, scaring the both of us. As I collected my wits I just said ‘up!’ and Jiggs reared really high and the man slide off the back and we galloped away.
In Saratoga, Lisa Sims had an old circus pony once that knew how to dance to music and other funny things so we taught Jiggs to do a few tricks which included things like to play tag and leap-frog. He was 16.2 hands which is very tall to leap-frog onto; he was very patient as we rammed into his rear time after time until we could jump high enough to leap-frog onto his back. We taught him lots of tricks one of which was to rear on command. Unfortunately he also used it when he didn’t want to go out riding, trying to toss me. I never thought it would be a useful thing to know it was just fun seeing what we could teach him but in this instance, when the nude man jumped on his back behind me, it came in very handy. I was almost sad when we left San Francisco a year later and went back to Saratoga, but there were all my friends and I still had Jiggs.

Shadow's Incredible Journey

My brother had a German Shepherd throughout his young life and into his twenties. She was a fantastic dog and was at his side at all times. After we had had her for at least eight years she bit the mail-man. She had always hated all delivery people but was great with kids. She had the same reaction to the Culligan water man but it turned out he was a dog trainer and one day he came with an even bigger male German Shepherd on the back of his truck to attack Shadow. It worked; Shadow kept her distance and would jump the fence to sit on the neighbor’s porch every time he came but that didn’t change her feelings for other delivery men. One day she just ran out and bit the mail-man. It was not a bad injury, he didn’t need stitches or anything, but my parents said we had to find a home for her as a watch-dog or something because we couldn’t have a dog that bit at home. A friend of ours owned a truck-rental company and said he would take her. She would be in a kennels during the day and have several acres to wander at night as a guard-dog. The first day when they were shutting the gates after letting her out she escaped. Even though it was over twenty miles away she came home. My parents were so touched by her devotion that they thought about letting her stay but decided against it because she would still bite delivery people. The man said he had a much bigger lot with barbed wire around the top about sixty miles away. He put her in his car and drove her to her new home. He was very pleased with her because she was amiable with the staff but wouldn’t let anyone in at night. This is when we were living on Park Drive where my sister and brother and I had our own house connected by a breeze-way to the main house. We each had a door to the outside and a kitchen and TV room and sauna. It was a great house for teenagers because we didn’t bother my parents or each other with our music or friends. One night while I was sleeping, a soaking wet Shadow came into my room. It was pouring rain and she knew how to open my door. We had had her for so long that it took me a few minutes to register that she didn’t live with us anymore. I was so happy to see her. After a few minutes of excitement I took her to my brother’s room and he had the same reaction as I did, he patted her on the head and told her to lie down. A few minutes later he sat up and realized she had run all the way home in the rain from somewhere she had never been to before. In the morning after drying her off, giving her a good meal and drink and a sleep we took her into the main house to show my parents. After that they said she would stay with us forever, and she did. The truck rental man couldn’t believe it he said they found dirty paw prints on the hood and top of one of their biggest trucks and she had jumped the fence and run sixty miles home to us.
On another occasion we were moving to Tiburon from San Francisco and someone found her and read her tag which we hadn’t changed since the move and they drove her back to San Francisco and left her outside our old house. Somehow once again she found her way to our new house having to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and find our new house about twenty miles up the coast. She was an amazing dog and my brother’s best friend.

Poodles, Rats and Reindeer

From the time I was little, whenever I would ask my father what he wanted, he always replied: peace, quiet and tranquillity. I always said “no come on, what do you really want?” His reply was always the same throughout my life. I didn’t understand what he meant until my children were all over six years old and then I realized that the best gift you can give someone is a bit of time on their own with no phone, or kids or any other disruptions, just time to sleep or do whatever your heart desires even if it was just for a few hours. This brings me to our house on Park Drive Saratoga where the kids all lived in a house attached to my parents. My poodle Chaussette, you have all met before in other stories, and she also fits into this one. My friend down the street had a miniature poodle and so did I, but she also had a rat and I didn’t. I begged my parents for one but finally my father said I don’t care if someone gives you the rat, cage and a years supply of food the answer is NO. During summer break I cleverly brought home a rat, cage, years supply of food and to top it off a maze. I told my father it was a science project. I am sure he didn’t believe me but that is how I got Bat Rat. My friend Rhonda and I used to put our poodles and rats in our bicycle baskets and take them on picnics to Montalvo and to the store. In the store we always put the rats on our shoulders scaring half of the customers. Eventually even my mother came around to how sweet Bat Rat was. Like I said on the house on Park Drive we all had outside doors and my sister and I shared a joining bathroom. My brother lived in the part with the kitchen and TV room, with his own bedroom and bathroom. I was a normal, awkward and obnoxious pre-teen with the sense of humor to go with it. My sister on the other hand was a phone talking, sophisticated teen-ager with no time for my pranks. Just as normal as me, I suppose. Now that I look back I must have driven her crazy because what a pre-teen and a teen-ager find amusing have nothing in common. One night when she was talking on the phone looking at the wall I snuck in and set my rat on her shoulder. She didn’t notice at first until he moved and ran that prickly tail across her neck. She jumped up and let out a shriek giving me just enough time to catch the rat and skedaddle. She was furious. I thought it was so funny that after things had calmed down a bit I would try it again. You see this is what I mean about what a pre-teen thinks is funny and what is not. I have to back-track here for just a moment so you can fully appreciate the story. When we lived in England my parents took us all on a ski trip to Scotland to the Cairngorms. It is very famous now but I think we were the first visitors. I know we were in the hotel, run by a very tall Finish woman and her very tiny husband from Lapland. They were called the Utsis. He raised reindeer and she ran the hotel which still wasn’t finished. At the ski resort, there was a lodge, not yet open but they gave you a bag lunch. You could ski down the hill and then wait for a bus to take you back to the top or you could walk, there were no lifts. It was over Christmas and we even got to go to church in a sleigh pulled by reindeer. On about the third day I slipped on the ice and cracked my tail bone so I had to stay at the hotel with Mrs. Utsi, which turned out to be quite fun. I got to help her in the kitchen making cookies and things. She gave me a present. It was a stuffed rat dressed in Scottish clothes. With that little bit of history we can return to Park Drive and my sister back on the telephone again. Since I though it was so funny the first time I was sure it would be better the second. Worried about the safety of Bat Rat I took my Scottish stuffed rat and snuck into my sister’s room where she was still talking to her friends. I carefully placed the stuffed rat on her shoulder and waited for the reaction. Thank goodness it was the stuffed rat because this time she showed no mercy. She grabbed the rat off her shoulder and threw it against the wall so hard that if it had been Bat Rat I am sure he couldn’t have survived. I made myself very scarce for quite along time until my sister could calm down. I am sure that all my sister ever wanted was peace, quiet and tranquillity as well. I think most of us discover this as we get older.

Marcel

When we lived in Los Gatos, which was until I was between four and five, we had a great house and a big yard. It is when I started Kindergarten with my friend Patty Peck. We had a German shepherd called Heidi. Heidi was our constant companion and never left our side. She played all day with us and was very gentle. Everyone loved her. As you all know by now my mother was a health-freak so even from the age of four, I had to walk home with my brother and sister up-hill about a mile and a half. It was called Hollywood Drive. When we got part way up the hill we would all start spelling out and yelling H E R E H E I D I and she would come running down the road to meet us. One day a naughty boy in the neighbourhood had started to tease her by showing her some meat then pulling it away he thought it was very funny but this was to have tragic consequences for us. She eventually jumped for the meat and barely bit the boy on the face. It was very minor no stitches or anything but his parents put up a stink about having a vicious dog wandering free and my parents had to put her down. That day while walking home from school we called H E R E H E I D I and she didn’t come. We were very worried because it was the first time she hadn’t come to meet us. When we got home we went into the garden to look for her and found a huge black dog with pom-poms on his feet and tail: I later learned it was a giant Poodle. His name was Marcel. We asked my mother where Heidi had gone and what was that in the garden. I was so small that I really don’t remember the story she told but I knew it wasn’t true. It turned out she had taken Heidi to the vet and since he knew what a wonderful dog she was and someone had brought in this poodle to be put down because they couldn’t handle him in their small house with no garden, the vet made a switch. I don’t know what my mother was thinking because there was no way Marcel would make up for Heidi and besides he was not castrated, something my mother failed to notice and he spent his whole time trying to ride us around the garden. I thought he was trying to play piggy-back but the rest of the family knew what he was doing. We didn’t speak to my mother for about two months and then when we moved. Marcel didn’t move with us. I have no idea where he went but we got another German shepherd and spoke to my mother again.

Pooh

One warm spring night when I lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains we had a few friends over for drinks. Because the weather was so pleasant we had the doors open. Suddenly, a little visitor came walking through the door and joined in the party. She was a very young raccoon, far too young to be away from her mother. We took a quick look around to see if we could find any more babies or the mother but we found nothing. She was smaller than the palm of my hand and appeared very friendly. We tried feeding her milk with bread and a few other things but she didn’t seem very interested. We were all a bit worried because it was obvious that she hadn’t eaten in some time. She walked over to me and I was drinking a Dr. Pepper: she grabbed hold of the bottle and started to lick it. She obviously wanted more so we poured a tiny amount in a little plate and she drank it all up. She was so cute and we were all laughing by now as she went from person to person looking for more Dr. Pepper. There was a neighbourhood raccoon called Esmerelda who had lived in the vicinity for many years so we thought the baby might be hers. Esmerelda was not afraid of humans, and she even used to break into the house and open the refrigerator and help herself to what she wanted. If she couldn’t get in, when we got home from work she would be in the driveway banging her little tin plate waiting for something to eat. A racoon’s favourite foods, by the way, are grapes and eggs. Esmeralda didn’t belong to anyone and made the rounds of the neighbourhood as she had done for many years. We figured that perhaps someone might have tried to take her in and make a pet out of her which would mean there were probably more babies out there.
But then all of the sudden, the baby went into convulsions and started foaming at the mouth. We called the local wildlife help-line – their center was right down the road from us – and the lady said to wrap her in a towel and get there as soon as we could. She said she would keep her under observation for a few days and give her some shots and when she was ready she would be returned to us with a male raccoon to keep her company and to be turned loose with her in about a year but in the meantime we had to build a large area for her and she was to be on a high-protein diet. We turned half of our terrace into a cage for her and she and her friend came home in about three weeks. We called her Pooh. She ate better than we did. She would have either scrambled or hard boiled eggs, grapes, bananas and other fruits and vegetables. It turned out that due to malnutrition, all the sugar, and the preservatives it was too much for her system to handle. We never saw Esmerelda again so something must have happened to her. Even though we had her from a baby, Pooh never was very friendly not like her companion Rocky. You could feed her by hand and pet her but she did not like to be picked up. About three months before we were to release them into the wild, we were told we would have to start changing their diet so that they could learn to eat things as they would find them in the wild. For Pooh, this proved to be much more traumatic then I had expected. We would give her a smaller amount of cooked eggs and then a raw egg as she had to learn to eat them raw. Instead of being served on a plate, her food was hung high up in the cage so she would have to make an effort to get it. It ended up taking us about five months to get her ready for release into the wild. In all of this, Rocky was far easier than Pooh to both handle and teach. The night we let them go, they were a bit afraid to leave the terrace but after a few hours they climbed down a tree, well fell off would be more accurate, and set off, straight across the street to the wine vineyard that made one of California’s most exclusive wines. The grapes were just ready for picking. What I found strange is that she or her companion never came back to visit or have a snack, we never saw them again but I am sure they lived very happily in the mountains.