How Much Is That Doggie In The Window

Let me introduce you to Wesley....

This is the story of Wesley...

Once upon a time there was a little old lady whose husband owned a store... this was many years ago. The husband decided that he needed to make his little general store to be a little bit of a classier establishment and so he decided to import from England some lovely ceramics. He brought in dishes and souptureens and cups and saucers and there were even some ceramic and decorative dogs.  Now this was during a time in the late 30's and early 40's when art deco was in style... among the ceramic dogs was one damn ugly green dog that no one in their right mind would ever buy. For many months the green dog sat on a shelf and no one even looked at it.... so the man who owned the store lowered the price. This happened over and over as time went by and the dog still did not sell. Finally one day he decided that he had had enough of the green dog sitting in his store and so he took it home to his wife. His wife took one look at it and decided that the best she could do for the green dog would be to sit it high on the top of her upright piano, toward the back where it's presence could be somewhat forgotten except on dusting day. The green dog sat there and day after day passed and soon weeks had passed and then months passed and then years passed.  The husband got sick and died and the old woman sat in the house by herself and her grown children were now gone from home and she was just rambling around in the house by herself and feeling rather lonely. Finally the old woman decided that it was time to close up her house and go and live with her daughter. So she did. Meanwhile the green dog sat on the piano now collecting dust. Eventually even the old lady died and her family came to pack up the house and because they had sold it. They went through each room cleaning out the things that had been left there years before. Finally they came to the parlour and there was the piano with the green dog sitting on the back of it. No body wanted the green dog. They were going to throw the darn thing in the garbage when the wife of one of the sons of the old lady said, "I kind of like it... it's strange but if you don't mind I will take it with me and I will find a place for it in my house." Everyone was relieved that they didn't have to deal with the green dog anymore and so they were happy to let the woman have it.

So the green dog found a new home... for many years the green dog sat on a shelf high up out of sight and just collected dust. Then one day it was packed into a box and shunted off to a new house because the family who owned it were moving.  When it was unpacked it once again was placed on a shelf and left to collect dust but by now the family that owned it were so used to the green dog that they had begun to kind of like the little guy. They would say things like, "that is the sorriest excuse for nice ceramics I have ever seen but it does have a cute face." And so the green dog began to finally find it's place in the family.

The green dog continued to collect dust as ceramic things do when you are not the most impressive house keeper but every so often someone would look at the green dog almost affectionately. One day the green dog got wrapped up again and packed into a box and when it got taken out again the woman who loved it decided to not put it on a shelf but to use it as a door stop. For many years the little green dog would get kicked out of the way every time someone would go into the bathroom. The green dog worked very hard for it's place in the family. But slowly the green dog became more and more an object of affection. Family members were growing up and moving away and the green dog continued to work as a door stop. Being ceramic it was a miracle that the green dog did not get broken, but it didn't. The lady who owned the dog was beginning to get older and soon it was time for retirement. Once again the green dog began to hear stories of moving and he knew that soon he would be wrapped again and sent off into a box to the next house.

He sat there politely holding the bathroom door open waiting for the day to arrive when he would be packed into a box. One day a junk dealer came to the house to buy old junk and he picked up the green dog and said, "I'll offer you two dollars for this green dog." The woman looked at the green dog and for a split second she thought well that has certainly passed it use so I think..... and she looked into the eyes of the green dog and in that moment the green dog became an item of affection.... and so the lady said... "oh that is not for sale since my mother-in-law used to keep that green dog on her piano." 

And so it came to pass that the movers once again came and the green dog was gently wrapped in proper packing and put into a box. This time the green dog spent many day in the box on a truck and when next the dog saw the light of day it was in a very different place. It was clear across the country in British Columbia.

The green dog was gently unwrapped and placed in the highest place of honour. The house that the green dog was living in had a large bay window. It was placed on a lovely lace doily and it was dusted regularly and there it sat in the window watching daily as visitors came and went. The green dog sat in the window for nine whole years until one day the lady's daughter came into the house crying because her jackass husband of twenty years had dumped her. The green dog's ears perked up and he listened intently to the younger woman bemoaning the fact that her arsewipe husband was such a dickwad and that she was leaving and going back to Nfld. The green dog knew he was in for it again... and he became really scared that this time because he thought he would get sold.

A month passed and finally preparations were made to go home to Nfld. Boxes were everywhere and still the green dog was not packed. The green dog began to get worried. Then one day he heard something that started to get him excited. The family were sitting together except for the Arsewipe husband and they were discussing their trip home. There was a fierce debate going on about all the things that are important and all the things that are not and what should be taken and what should be left behind. The lady who had taken the green dog off the piano so many years ago decided that the green dog was necessary to her being. The green dog felt great affection for the now older lady. The older lady who was starting to repeat herself kept saying that she couldn't forget the old green dog. More and more the green dog was liking her. The rest of the family were rolling their eyes but all of a sudden the younger woman who had been dumped by her husband came up with a brilliant idea.  They would take the green dog in their carry on luggage and it would become their mascot. They decided that they would take pictures of it as it was traveling across Canada with the family and they even hoped that a conductor on board the train would be willing to pose with the green dog and stand petting it as it looked out the window of the train.

Now the green dog needed a name.... they sat thinking of names but none of the names seemed to be right. It was later in the week when the younger woman went to visit a friend at the dump that she came home with a good name for the little green dog.... it was her friend at the dump who came up with the name. He was gently christened Wesley in the kitchen sink removing the dust and dirt of the earlier weeks of neglect and placed on an old rocking chair and for the first time in his life the little green dog now name Wesley was introduced to the world.

It was the beginning of his greatest adventure ever.