Cowboy Chet Rides Again!

Cowboy Chet came to us a year or two ago when his family broke up and he was left alone too long to be happy during the day. And when Cowboy Chet isn't happy, ain't nobody in the whole apartment building happy! Let's just say he was quite vocal about his dissatisfaction, and with an eviction notice looming over his head, Chet's dad had to make a sad decision. When Chet came to us, we learned that the eleven year-old boy had the kind of personality the word "crotchety" had to be invented to describe. He was crochety. Yes, he was, he had a bad case of the wild crochets, and he didn't care who knew it. And yet, he was also very funny! Think Walter Brennan in a dog suit.

We got these photos from Cowboy Chet's mom recently. You can see him modeling his Hallowe'en collar, looking crotchety and annoyed, and you can see him wearing his old, comfortable red cowboy hat and bandana, looking less irritated and a little more at home in his skin. The hat came from an admirer, an FBRN volunteer who lives in Texas, and Cowboy Chet wears his real Texas cowboy hat with unmistakable pride and remarkable elan. It's not every dog who can carry off a red cowboy hat. It's a shame, but Cowboy Chet takes the whole Marlboro Man mystique a little too far with the candy cigarette. Oh, well. The old boy's better than eleven years old. If it hasn't kilt him by now, he might just as well indulge himself in his little vices. But I'm sure Chet would be the first to tell the young Frenchies out there to stay in school and leave the coffin nail confections to old dogs too stubborn to give 'em up.

The note that came with the photos said Chester and his mom had recently gone to a toy and pet warehouse store and Chet was so perturbed by the presence of other dogs that he insisted on being carried. Later that week, an old friend stopped by and was marveling that a dog as, well, crochety as Chester could ever have found a home. Up piped his mom to say that the two rescued Frenchies in her life brought her so much joy she couldn't imagine life without them. To which her friend replied, with a gentle pat on the old boy's head, "Chester, you don't know how lucky you are to have found this family!" Predictably, in the besotted way of Frenchie owners everywhere, his mom corrected her: "We are the lucky ones," she said.

Now, if that doesn't give us all incentive to keep taking in and training even the crabbiest old apples! It sure provides evidence that there really is a lid to every pot. Some pots are just harder to fit than others.

Belly up to the bar, Chet! The Frog Princess wants to buy you a sarsparilla!

The Frog Princess