CHATHAM IVY'S TALES OF THE DOGS - MISTY, OUR ENGLISH SETTER

No matter how many times we've chased dripping wet, sandy dogs across a field of picnic blankets or wiped miles of muddy paw prints from our hardwood floors, or rescued the last of the steak as it disappears down a certain canine's gullet, we still love our dogs.  At Chatham Ivy, we've always gravitated toward the preppy breeds - from spaniels to retrievers to setters to mountain dogs - the more obstreperous the better.  We've had a lot of love, a lot of disasters, and a lot of dog tales.  We think you'll find our dogs as fun a we do.  In the next few weeks, we'll be telling you tales of all of our dogs.  The first one is, of course, our first dog Misty:

Chatham Ivy Founder's Kim and Katie with our English Setter, Misty at the Cape

The whole family at the Cape with Misty

On Lieutenant's Island in Wellfleet with Misty

Chatham Ivy's Misty

When we were kids our parents loaded us and all of our gear into their hunter green Ford Squire station wagon with the wooden panels and we drove all the way from Main Line, Philadelphia to our summer house on Lieutenant's Island in Wellfleet on the Cape.  We waited all year for those magical summers full of swimming and sailing and catching sea creatures and going to the Wellfleet Drive In.
One special summer, we loaded a new family member into the wagon - our brand new English Setter puppy, Misty.  Misty was as beautiful and sweet as she was exasperating, mostly due to her uncanny ability to escape any situation and run for miles and miles.  She just had to run and she wasn't going to stop for anyone or anything.  We used to get phone calls from our neighbors who would say, "we saw a white streak in our back yard and we think it's your dog".  My Dad would race out the back door and start running in the direction of the phone caller, sometimes picking up helpful neighbors or their children along the way.  Then, just like the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker, the group of neighbors would run in a line through endless back yards chasing the white streak.  Inevitably someone would try to tackle Misty only to miss and have her dash off again.  My Mom would get in the car and try to head Misty off at the pass and eventually after a lot of running and phone calls and driving, someone would catch her.  There was even one time when she got loose at Valley Forge Park for several hours that my Mom finally found her at the ranger station tied up right under the sign that said in bold letters, No Dogs Off Leash.

Misty loved Lieutenant's Island because she was never tied up and could run free for the whole summer.  She knew, even after eight hours in the car, the precise moment when we would pull onto the Island.  She would start panting, whining and getting so restless we had to open the car window to let her out.  She was at her happiest racing through the marshes, endlessly chasing seagulls, chasing waves and rolling in the sand.  One time when she went for a swim and shook her wet, sandy fur all over a family eating lunch on the beach then tried stealing their sandwiches, my Mom declared, "well, I wonder whose dog that is.  I can't imagine anyone allowing such an unruly dog at the beach."  Misty embodied the freedom, spirit and beauty that we all felt every summer when we got out of school and were let loose on the Island for the summer.  Like Misty we all felt happy, independent and free every summer at the Cape.

Celebrate your freedom this summer with one of our preppy pup totes from Chatham Ivy.  When you're packing a picnic for the beach, think of Misty.  We sure will.