Growing up in years past, there was a such thing as the neighborhood dogs. Dogs were allowed to run loose and roam. Daytona famously had several local dog personalities, including two "town dogs" named Brownie. (One is famously interred in Riverfront Park, the other on the north side of the post office on Beach Street). (Pic of 1950s Brownie who passed in 54, with a full funeral. Had his own bank account set up to cover medical bills, a beloved animal.)
The main dog was a German Shepard named Lopsy, who lived at the 4th house down and hung out at the end of the driveway under a shady tree. If I remember right, Lopsy started out at the 2nd house but decided to be at the 4th. Lopsy was kind of the neighborhood terror if you were a stranger, on a bicycle, or perhaps black. Many a school kid started walking past and turned around after being intimidated, or took the sport of outrunning Lopsy on a bicycle.
A few years later, a family moved in down the road with a Benji dog named Tippy. Tippy and Lopsy became good friends and Tippy would sit under the tree with Lopsy. (A lot of the kids on the street must have learned this social behavior from our dogs, as many of the kids married other kids on the same street. The families are inextricably linked to this day).
Five houses down on the east side, there were 2 dogs, giant John John, and little Scosh. Scosh would come to our house to visit, and would often follow us on our walk to school and home. Eventually Scosh spent so much time at our house that her owner allowed us to keep her as our dog, and she remained there into my senior high school years. One of my favorite dogs ever. My dad worked at a news stand on Beach Street for awhile, so a large chunk of my childhood was spent in Riverfront Park with Scosh, chasing squirrels.
The folks next door to us to the east were related to Scosh's family (ex husband) and they had a little terrier named Leonard. The folks on the other side of us had a huge dog named Maynard. Maynard's owner was disabled and my brother would take Maynard for walks, usually getting the pack from the neighborhood and some neighbor kids and taking the dogs for a run thru the woods. Maynard's owner also had a Benji style mutt named Charlie. Charlie it seems was female, and was prone to getting into situations with male dogs that required using a garden hose to detach the 2 dogs...something I did not comprehend at the time.
Back then, running north from my house up the street, you would run into woods that seemed to go on forever, and would supply many adventures over the years. If you were adventurous, you could cut thru the woods to get to school. We took our bicycles back there, made BMX tracks, forts, and stored our contraband.
The fifth house down was a black lab named Joe (named for the TV show Run Joe Run, HAHA). Joe never ran loose but was fun to tease behind the fence. The family famously ran an electric wire on the fence to keep Joe from leaping it. That fence shocked more than one of us kids HAHA.
NONE of this would fly these days, a few phone calls and those dogs would be tethered or taken. The woods are now homesites. The dogs have all gone, but my memories are fond and vivid. Woke up thinking about that today and just thought I would share. These days, we have neighborhood cats, but it is just not the same as those good ol neighborhood dogs.
If you are old enough to remember these days, you will also remember when unattended dog poop just turned white and then disintegrated.
Dog poop used to turn white because in the past dog food was packed with bone meal which created a high calcium diet that caused the chalky white residue. Todays foods have less calcium and are more balanced and digestible. Also these days, poop gets bagged quickly, whereas back then, no one picked up poop...except Mrs Petit on the corner. She had a poodle named Pierre, and if a dog pooped in her yard she would come out with a cap pistol in her bra, then spray her lawn with Lysol, HAHA.
Dog poop used to turn white because in the past dog food was packed with bone meal which created a high calcium diet that caused the chalky white residue. Todays foods have less calcium and are more balanced and digestible. Also these days, poop gets bagged quickly, whereas back then, no one picked up poop...except Mrs Petit on the corner. She had a poodle named Pierre, and if a dog pooped in her yard she would come out with a cap pistol in her bra, then spray her lawn with Lysol, HAHA.
