"Mr. Binks" Didn't Know He Was a Dog



JR and Mr. Binks

 From the beginning, it was very apparent that "Mr. Binks" hadn't a clue that he was just a dog.  Of course, there were those who were convinced he was, and because of this misconception he ended up at "the pound" in the early '60s before there were places called The Humane Society.  Supposedly, he was about five months old and a mix of Old English Sheepdog and Cocker Spaniel.  We were told his "father" was a "Disney movie star" and his "mother" a registered Cocker down the street. When my two kids and I found him at the pound, he looked pretty scroungy. According to his paperwork his days were numbered.  He looked to be a red-blond color under all that dirt and appeared pretty lonely by the way he leaned into the wire fencing as we walked between the dog cages.

The reason we were at the pound that bright sunny day was because one month earlier our dearest Cocker Spaniel, "Dusty," had succumbed to old age and cancer.  Even my husband, who was a pretty tough guy, cried with the rest of us when we lost our furry friend. Probably JR took it the hardest.  You see, first we had Tes, then Dusty, then JR, so it became Dusty's duty to take care of JR, which he did.  Anytime you couldn't find JR, you just asked around and you'd find both he and the dog close and both looking just as guilty. Dusty was sorely missed.

We had planned to go into Los Angeles where I had found someone with a litter of Cocker Spaniels puppies.   But I thought we should just stop by the pound on the way. "We may find just the right puppy there," I said.  JR was not convinced.  So we had stopped by the pound and found this cute, sad, half-grown puppy. How could we not take him home with us?  After all, he made it perfectly clear that he really wanted to go with us. So we adopted him, with the idea that we could bring him back if it didn't work out.  To this day, I have rescued many dogs and cats.  Never have I returned even one of them.  And this one was no different.

Binks stayed quite calm until we got him into the car. Then he jumped into Tes's lap and was jumping all over her. I heard Tes exclaim, "Maybe we should take him back?" But I was already pulling out of the parking lot. "Let's give him a chance," I said. JR was in the backseat not saying a word.

He came to us with the name of "Mr. Binks" so apparently his previous owned had thought enough about him to give him a cute name. On the other hand, he was dirty enough to have been a stray. We had no way of knowing if his "movie star parentage" was true, but we did live close to Hollywood, so we'd accepted the story when we adopted the dog.

It was trial and error from the very beginning.  Our veterinarian checked him over, gave him a bath and made him look absolutely terrific.  We took one look at our new, clean dog and were sold.  That was until we got him home.  Within the first week of adjusting to our home, and us adjusting to having him around, I had many long talks with him each and every day.  "Either stop tearing up my pillows, or my favorite summer handbag, or my favorite shoes, or you're going back to the pound."  It was pretty much all bluff on my part, but he did stop chewing up my things.  Funny, he didn't chew up any of the kids' things. Anyway, we decided to keep him after all.  And that was one of the best choices we ever made. 

Binks and DC

Soon thereafter we adopted a male kitten, black and white, and named him DC, after the cat in the movie, "That Darned Cat."  Guess what?  In no time at all Binks had adopted DC as his baby and forever after they were the best of friends.  We're still not sure if Binks thought  DC was a dog, or if DC thought Binks was a cat.  Every day Binks licked and cleaned DC's ears, then they would stage a wonderful wrestling match.  We often had neighbors wanting to stop by and watch the whole episode. 

Mr. Binks


Mr Binks loved being dressed up:  t-shirt, sunglasses, babushka, the works.  He loved posing for pictures as well.  One day we arrived home to find DC was on the kitchen counter shoving fresh donuts off the counter  for Binks to catch.  When we walked in Binks smiled with that adoring, don't pay any attention to the donut I'm still munching, just notice how good I've been taking care of DC.  Yeah!



From that time on, Binks was like raising another kid.  The neighborhood kids would stop by and ask, "Can Mr. Binks come out and play?"  Once outside, he would pull kids on their skate boards or play his favorite game with them.  He'd run up the street to a certain point then, while the kids stood with their backs to him, he'd run like the dickens and bulldoze them in the backs of the knees, sending them laughing into the grass. They never knew which kid he would choose next. 

Then there'd be a knock on the door and some worn-out kids would say, "We brought Mr Binks back.  He's tired now."  And so he was for the moment. But in no time he'd be ready to play again. 

That was a long time ago and we'll surely never forget Mr. Binks or DC.  What a delight!  If there's a special place in heaven for wonderful dogs and cats, then that's where they are today.