My parents bought my first Pekingese for me on my fifth birthday (1955). I have been in love with the breed ever since and I have had many Pekingese friends over the years. Guido was one of those dogs where you say, "There will never be another one like him!" I got him just before I started doing rendezvous back in 1988 and he became a road dog. He loved traveling and camping out in the big tent. He never met a stranger. When I first brought him home I had to wean him because I got him too early. The only thing I could get him to chew was pizza crust so I figured he was Italian. But since he was black, I figured he was Black-Italian.
Guido in his later years. (2003)
Once I moved to New Mexico, he started to wear a sombrero so I figured he was part Spanish-American. He spoke the only Spanish I could understand and he wore his sombrero proudly at the festivals!!! So now I had it figured out -- he was Black-Italian, Spanish American!!! People at the festivals would come over to the tent and say, "Oh, look at the cute little dog!" At the Michael Martin Murphy festival in Taos, New Mexico (1992), the TV camera crew came over to the tent and filmed Guido taking a siesta on a hay bale for a promotional advertisement for the festival. Guido made it on national TV!!!!
Guido lost most of his hair in his old age so he wasn't as magnificent looking as he was as a child but he was still the most beautiful dog on earth! He won every heart he met. Even big men who claimed that big men shouldn't like little dogs were won over by his charm.
Baby Guido
Young Guido
Young Guido's Portrait
Baby Guido and his friend, Zippy
Young Guido
Guido with his friend, RufusWhen Guido started to lose his appetite, my friend, Leta, bought me a new puppy. She knew Guido was failing and she didn't want me to be alone. I named the new puppy "Gandalfe the Black Dancer" (lovingly called "The Gandy Dancer") because he would dance when I would come home after being away. "Gandalfe the Black", although it is spelled differently, was from the "Lord of the Rings" movie. I chose "Gandalfe the Black" because in the movies there was Gandolfe the Gray and Gandolfe the White. He put a magic spell on my heart immediately so I knew he was a wizard! He wanted so bad to play with Guido, but Guido was tired. The first thing they had in common, though, was The Frog. This is a picture of all three of them when Gandy was seven months old.
Gandalfe the Black Dancer, The Frog and Guido
When Gandy was ten months old, I got a friend for him and named her "My Guinevere Lass". "Guinevere" stands for "Sweet Lady" and so her name means "My Sweet Lady Lass". She was such a tiny little thing! Gandy was afraid of her - I think he thought she was a gerble! She was ten weeks old when I got her and not much bigger than a pack of cigarettes. She only weighed 2.5 pounds! Later when I bred them, her puppies were 2.5 pounds at six weeks!!! She only grew to be nine pounds, and Gandy weighs in at 14.5 pounds!
Guinevere (ten weeks)
Gandy on Mamma's lap
Guinevere wearing Guido's sombreroThis picture of Guinevere doesn't really show how small she really was. The coffee cup in the background looks smaller because it is further away, but if they were side by side, they would be the same size! The floor boards are 2x6's so you can see that she is hardly, but not quite, 6 inches wide! So much like Guido, she is so black that when you take her picture, the only way you know the head from the tail is by the stark-white chest and by looking at which way the feet are pointing!!!
Gandy takes good care of Guinie. One day as I was giving them their vitamins, I put Gandy's down in front of him and as I was getting out two for Guinie, Gandy saw she didn't have any and so he took one of his and laid it in front of her and then stood back to watch her eat it.
I bred Gandy and Guinie at Guinie's second heat. She was so spoiled, she didn't make a good momma. I had to do all the work. I kept one puppy and named him "Gandalfe's Samwise" after Frodo's friend, Sam, in the "Lord of the Rings" movie (can you tell I liked the movie?). He has grown into a handsome young man! He has a very sweet heart and loves to play with his mummy and dadda. When he sleeps, he lays on his back and twitches. I think he is dreaming of a leash-free world.
When Sam was three months old, he was as big as his mother, he just had shorter legs. In the picture of the two of them, he is sitting down and she is standing up -- otherwise you could see how big he is getting! He is quite handsome and has great conformation, not only in his face, but all over! His hair is soft as down and his little white feet are like little marshmallows.
