Champ at 2 weeks (Champ is the one in front.)	At 2 weeks, he was irresistably cute. He was one of a litter of six - four females and two males. The females were all black and white, the males were brown. One male had a bobbed tail, and the owner wanted to keep him for his children. I chose the other male.
At 6 weeks, he was introduced to his new home. When I brought him home, he stayed on the back porch for a couple of days. He spent the entire time hiding under a table. Finally I borrowed a dog pen from John and Karen and a dog house from Sid and Jeanette. They were set up in the back yard. He spent much of his time in the dog house, but eventually became bolder and ventured out into the big world of his pen.	Champ at 6 weeks.
Champ at 7 months.	By Summer, Champ had grown to a rather large dog, and had gained confidence and bravery. Somehow, he managed to survive the hot summer days and nights of carousing the county. On a few occasions, he stayed away for an entire day or more. The first time, I assumed he had been lost, only to have him show up in the yard after sunset. The next time, he was gone until the next morning. One day he came home with one ear almost torn from his head. I thought that would cure him of his loafing, but that didn't happen. A couple of times I had to retrieve him from across highway 22 near the airport. I'm sure the neighbors had a pretty low opinion of my dog.
Champ meets his new best friend. A buddy at home helped to keep Champ interested in staying at home. Still, it didn't keep him from running under Brian's car and scraping his belly. It took him a couple of weeks to recover from that. Nor did it keep him from dislocating his hip. I don't know how that happened. He was practically disabled for about a week before he finally started walking on it again. He had not fully recovered from this injury when he disappeared for the last time. My last memory is of him running up the road, hopping as fast as he could on three legs.	Champ and his new best friend.

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