When Sam had been put to sleep, we all grieved for him. But we also experienced a profound loss as to what to do with ourselves.

After discussing it for a day, we decided to get another dog right away. Yup! We waited two whole days before getting another dog! Seems callous, but we weren't replacing Sam. We needed an outlet for our grief, and what better way than to talk about a new dog's antics and characteristics and how different or alike they were to Sam's?

My step-mother Jan found a breeder of Irish Setters who had a fifth dog in a four lap household. Garp was a champion-bred dog, but because of crooked teeth, he was not show dog quality. He had still received some training in the hopes the teeth would straighten out, but they didn't. When we got him, Garp was 5 months old and we were warned that he might be a bit of a "bad boy" because of being frustrated without his own personal human. We thought since there were 4 humans and no dog in our house, how could it go wrong? Well, we found out! LOL

Garp was really a delightful dog. Compared to Sam's human intelligence, we had never dealt with a dog with animal cunning. The first day when we all went to work, Jan barricaded the kitchen so Garp would have free rein in there and access to his water and food, plus some toys. I am sure many dogs would have been satisfied, albeit lonely and inclined to howl. Garp? No! He decided he didn't want to be in there. So he tried jumping over the barricade and ended up getting hung up by the groin! :-(

Fortunately, Jan had snuck around to the back door and was peeking in the window, unseen by Garp, and saw what happened. She was able to get in and get him out of his predicament. Not knowing what else to do, she let him have free rein of the house.

I can't remember if he caused any havoc that day, but he did over the next few months. One day was just hysterical. I can't remember all he had done, but he had pulled plants out of pots and shaken the dirt everywhere. He had yarn balls unrolled all over the house, upstairs and downstairs, even managing to get them wound around the stair posts?!?!?! It looked like he had done the twist on a stack of newspapers, too. I have to give him credit, when he needed to go to the bathroom, he went downstairs where it was tiled.

After that day, we needed a solution or a new dog. So, we decided to put him in a bathroom for the day. Not bad, but he chewed through a wicker hamper and destroyed a few other things. So, after Garp-proofing the bathroom, we tried again. Success!

Not only had he been good without any destruction, he had held both bladder and bowels! And he was so happy that he'd been good!

We had a few setbacks, but after a few steady weeks, he ended up outgrowing his destructiveness. But not the bladder or bowel problem. Sam had no problem holding himself all day, but Garp never could. :( Oh, well. You deal with it, right?

As he matured, he discovered other dogs. Female dogs. And they were on the other side of the fence. So Garp decided he should be on the other side of the fence. He ended up digging a shallow hole under the hurricane fence that he could lay down sideways in and skootch himself through. It took a while, but we broke him of that.

Then, one day, the meter reader came and didn't fasten the gate correctly. Before I knew it, Garp got out. I was the only one home that day, so I grabbed his leash and ran out the door barefoot. I ended up chasing him for quite a few blocks, in summer, on a very hot day. When we got home, the bottoms of my feet were blistered.

A few weeks later, he did the same thing, and I did, too. You'd think *I* would at least have learned! LOL But I was panicked about him getting hit by a car, so out I went barefoot again. :-(

Garp was a chocoholic. Now, animals are not supposed to have chocolate as it can be poisonous to them, we've been told. One Christmas, we had stockings hung downstairs that were filled with chocolate. Sam never had given us a problem, so we had no reason to suspect Garp would. Wrong! LOL

He had pulled down the stockings and ate as many of the chocolates as he could, foil and all. The ones he couldn't get out, he sucked through the stocking! The vet said not to worry, the foil shall pass. And it did. We found it all over the yard, come spring, in his "mushrooms". :-)

Jan's birthday is in May, and my dad had gotten her a box of chocolates. She left it covered sitting on a coffeetable. When she got home from work, the cover had been removed, and several chocolates were missing. The paper cups were still there, and nothing had been drooled on, but Garp had his guilty face on! LOL

Garp was very good around kids, which was important, since Jan's kids had started having babies. One time, one of the babies who was around 6 months old was sitting by Garp, and began patting/hitting in that way that little ones do, and pulling on his fringe. Instead of getting mad, Garp just did a long, slow s-t-r-e-t-c-h and pushed the baby out of reach! LOL

While Sam was alive, I decided to get a parakeet. My sister said she wanted one, too, so we got a pair. They were kept in the kitchen and let out to fly every few days. Only one, Felix, was on the brave side. He'd fly through the house, often buzzing Sam, who, since he was elderly, couldn't catch swift little Felix. But, after Sam died and we got Garp two days later, and they were both Irish Setters, swift little Felix almost became a meal the first time he buzzed Garp! LOL

My sister and I moved out of the house when Garp was 4, taking the parakeets with us.

Garp lived to 11, when he had to be put to sleep with kidney failure.