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Family Sites:
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A Tribute to Guinness: 1995 - 2007
"To toss is human, to retrieve; canine"
 We are very sad to report that Guinness left the Pettengill pack on 28 April 2007. She had been in slow decline for a number of months. This page is a tribute and a rememberance of her better days. Guinness joined the pack as a bouncing puppy in April of 1995.  She had a distingushed pedigree, noble lineage and considerable charm that even Nate couldn't resist. Said Nate before he met her: "We’re just going to look at the puppies." ...Guinness accompanied us home. Guinness quickly realized that she had won the dog lottery and assumed a useful role in the pack. She and Oban kept a vigil on the front lawn in Short Hills, NJ to intercept maurauding rabbits and deer.
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Guinness had all of Cape Cod at her disposal and used it well. She exuded pure doggie-bliss in all her endeavors. She occasionally expressed this bliss by spontaneously making several rapid counterclockwise circles, known as "doggie donuts". Unfortunately, this joyous manuever has never been captured on film. She loved, equally, the beach (any beach), rolling and digging in the sand, water of any type and clarity, dead fish, small children, jumping in leaves, deep snow, leftovers, "walkies", fruitless attempts to capture ducks and belly rubs. She earned a number of affectionate nicknames as a result: "Pooch-a-gill" (Eli), "Wiggle Butt" (Nate), "Poopsie" (Madeleine), "My little sister" (Sarah), "The Pooch" (Grandpa Herb) and "Ginny-ginster" (Uncle Will).
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Guinness spent her first Christmas with the "extended Pettengill pack" in Pennsylvania.
"My Time At Camp" is her account of the adventure, as told to Nate's brother Will. She did so well that Will and Lynn soon adopted a Southern "cousin" named Harp. This is Guinness and cousin Harp at Rock Harbor. Harp, being a Southern Belle, maintains the slight edge in "looks", "poise" and "girlish figure" categories while Guinness, being a Yankee dog, has the advantage in "sea-worthiness". Note that while the sunset accents Harp's yellow fur, Guinness is eagerly anticipating a seaward dash to inspect the wrack line from the last high tide.
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The Pettengill pack is well known for their wide-roaming habits; Guinness travelled far and long with the pack. She has made numerous sailboat, pram and square boat voyages around Sheep Pond, car trips to Colorado with Nate and Grandpa Pettengill to see Eli off to college, to Nova Scotia with Nate and Uncle Dave to pick up a Lunenberg dory, to Florida for a combined dog-friendly Christmas vacation and and saltillo tile expedition. Here's Guinness in Colorado checking out Eli's future housing.
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 Sadly, time moves faster for dogs than humans and it weighed on Guinness. She turned around and headed for home on walks that used to be just a warm up for the day's frivolities. She still swam at every opportunity
but as the hips wore out, the stairs up from Sheep Pond became a barrier. Where she used to wander down the stairs by herself, paddle around, lap a few laps and chase a few frogs, now she needed an assist to make it back to the top. P-U-F-F, P-U-F-F went the lungs. Her forays off the bed became fewer and at Pettengill Beach, she ceded the frisky stuff to Pearl, Aunt Jean's Corgie, and Ollie, Uncle Jim's Yellow Lab. When she could no longer negotiate the one step out to the front lawn for the morning relief, we knew it was time. She will be sorely missed and long remembered.
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 So Guinness has her special spot in the backyard, a place where we can stop for a moment, remember her and then, when we pick up that beach towel off the line, smile just a bit at the thought of Guinness waiting to see us reach for the towel and then heading for the pond in a mad dash down the stairs.
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