We got Baxter in Brunswick, Maine on October 28, 1982. We got him from a breeder. His grandfather was a show dog. My older 3 children just loved him. In 1983, I found out that I was pregnant with my 4th child and that my husband had to be shipped to Florida. Instead of going with him, we left for my hometown in Minnesota. I packed up the 3 kids and Baxter and headed back home.
After my daughter was born, Baxter and her were inseparable. My 4 year old son always tried to take him for a walk. My daughter always tried to sleep with him and never wanted to leave his side. In early 1984, we moved into a new house. Joni and Baxter just sat in the corner playing with each other while everything was moved in. In late 1984, Jonie was started to walk. She used to grab onto Baxter’s ears to try and stand up. Baxter always gave me this look like “what is she doing to me?”. Joni used to ride him everywhere. No one was attached
to that dog like she was.
In 1988, when Joni was about 4-5 years old, we got a cat. That is the first time that I seen a dog take to a cat like that. From then on it was always the three of them together. The cats started to come and go. They would run off or get outside and get hit. In mid 1992, we got a new dog, a female. Baxter finally had a girlfriend. Joni started to play with the new dog more. baxter started to whine more than usual. We found out that he has a form of Epilepsy. I didn’t want to have my children see that so I moved him to my parent’s place. He now had a farm to live and run on. About 2 weeks after he moved to my parents, we found out that the new dog, Cassie was pregnant. This was in late 1993. I thought that she would die giving birth to the puppies since
she was smaller than Baxter was.
In November 1993, Cassie gave birth to 5 puppies. She had 2 that looked just like Baxter and one that looked very similar. All 4 kids loved the new puppies. Joni was 10 at this point. My son, Nick was 13, Chrissy was 15, and Chad was 18. The kids always wanted to bring the puppies everywhere that we went. My mother-in-law loved the puppies. Joni was devastated when we had to give the puppies away. Those were Baxter’s puppies and she wanted to keep them. I told her that we could go out and see Baxter whenever we had the chance just so he still knew that we cared. Everytime that we went over to my parents, Joni was out there every 10 minutes with Baxter.
In 1995, we had a big blow. My brother-in-law died and Baxter died. It was a very cold winter that year and he couldn’t take it. He was 12 years old and 90% deaf and going blind. He was starting to run into things. When he was still living at home, he was going deaf. Joni was very sad when he went. I didn’t know how to tell her. Everytime that I talked to my mother, she would ask how Baxter was and to tell him hi for her and say that she misses him and loves him. I think that in all of us something was lost when he died. He was my daughter’s companion for 10 years. She now is married and is trying to start a family of her own.
She still has Cassie.
When she moved out, she wanted Cassie to go with her. She never leaves that dog. She told me that she made one mistake and that was letting me put Baxter on Grandma’s farm, she is not letting that happen again. She wants to be there when this animal goes. She keeps a picture of Baxter in her purse. She told me that when Cassie goes,
she is gonna get another cocker spaniel.
The ironic thing about Baxter is that we got him exactly a year before Joni was born. I know that dog meant alot to her and meant alot to everyone. We will miss him. We love you Baxter and
still think about you to this very day.
With love,
| Baxter |
| Lorrie |