The prompt image for Sepia Saturday 308 featured a man walking along a beach with his dog. I thought about it for a second, and since my family lived mostly the center of Pennsylvania over the last 100 years, an area with no sandy beaches, I decided I had plenty of photos of men with dogs and took the easy way out this week! Pictured above is Leon Kitko with “Tramp.” The back of the photo says that it was taken in May 1971 and that Tramp was Lynn Adams’ dog. If I’ve got my facts right, the dog wasn’t Lynn Adams’ for very long and Leon basically ended up adopting the dog since he spent more time with Leon than anyone else. There are bunches of photos of Tramp in the collection of Polaroids from the 1970s proving that he was a beloved pet and companion for a number of years. Anyone who has had a family dog knows exactly what I’m talking about, and we have two rescue pups who share our home. Just like grandpa, we’ve taken countless photos of our dogs and share them with anyone (and everyone). While people might think it’s odd to save photos of grandpa’s pets, I feel a sort of nostalgia for them even though I never knew any of these pets. Beyond that, the photos work to paint a bigger picture about the sort of person Grandpa was – all the photos of pets show he was an animal lover. To me, they’re not just a mass of photos of pets, but photos taken with love to remember a life shared with furry companions.
That dog is huge! I would keep any photos of my grandparents pets too.
Thst certsinly is one very big dog !
Tramp is definitely a big dog that knew where he wanted to be.
That’s a handsome dog who looks like he might easily weigh as much as Leon. I’d guess 130 lbs or so. We often date family photos better using the pets in them, especially with inevitable overlap of old cats and young dogs, or visa versa. And you are right, photos of pets are all about a shared loved of animals.
Anyone who has ever owned & loved a pet is grateful to have pictures of that pet – both while it’s alive, & afterward. They are treasured remembrances!
Don’t feel bad about having the old photos of the dogs. I have photos of the dog I always thought belonged to my grandparents in the 1950s. Skippy was always there, grandma was always feeding him. I only found out about 10 years ago that good old Skippy was actually a moocher who lived down the street and would go home each night when his owner got home from work. I was crushed to find out that Skippy wasn’t family!