Pucky, we hardly knew ye

I'm not sure exactly when, but at some point when Owen was a baby he grew quite fond of a little stuffed blue dog. It lived in his crib, and Owen would often drift off to sleep while playing with the dog's ribbon or rubbing it against his face.

When Owen learned to talk, he named the dog Blue Puppy, which came out of his mouth as Blue Pucky and eventually just Pucky. This was convenient because the dog was really no longer blue and had faded to a mottled grey.

Pucky has been through a lot, as the photos attest. When Owen was in daycare as a one-year-old, Pucky went with. This meant Pucky often was dragged, literally, through the mud as Owen and his fellow charges travelled about the neighbourhood. Owen was also pretty aggressive about snuggling Pucky in his bed, so the thing has eroded to the point that it is really not recognizable as a dog.

But these are sad times for Pucky. Owen's interest in cats is, as has been mentioned before, a bit nutty, and he now likes to carry them back and forth from his bed to the family-room couch. Sometimes Pucky is brought along, sometimes not. And recently, when Owen's friend Justin slept over, Owen put all of his stuffed animals in Justin's bed. Including Pucky.

But not the cats.

Sue was a little teary-eyed on Pucky's behalf.