Sallie Bingham

  • Events
  • Blog
    • Doris Duke
    • Best of 2024
    • My Favorites
    • Full Archives
    • Writing
    • Women
    • Philanthropy
    • My Family
    • Politics
    • Kentucky
    • New Mexico
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Theater
    • Religion
  • Books & Plays
    • Doris Duke
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Plays
    • Poetry
    • Anthologies
  • Writing
    • Short Stories
    • Poems
    • Plays
    • Translations
  • Resources
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Print
    • Biography
  • About
    • Contact
 
You are here: Home / My Family / Black Pip Comes Home

Black Pip Comes Home

July 5th, 2015 by Sallie Bingham in My Family 2 Comments

From the series: Black Pip (aka Pipsickle)

Black Pip SleepingYou never know with a new dog. Especially one like Pip whose previous life is shrouded in mystery: the year he spent somewhere, with someone, before Animal Rescue picked him up, a wanderer, and took him to the Santa Fe Animal Shelter.

One thing I know for sure: whoever that previous owner was, she let him get in her bed.

Yes, it must have been a woman. Would a man let a big handsome black male pit bull get in his bed?

But—would a woman?

He’s proving to be a great trail dog, too. Meeting something about his size but old and timid this morning, he greeted her politely; her owner congratulated me on adopting a black male pit bull.

Well, certainly not this one. There are limits (not very severe ones) to my affection…

I know of Pip’s previous experience because this morning when I came back to my bedroom after talking on the phone with my sweeties, there Pip was, curled up, a big black ball, in the center of my pristine white bed.

Not easily moved, either. He was way too comfortable. Treats meant nothing; he’s not much of a treat dog and clearly knows when he’s being bribed against his own best interest.

Finally, I had to haul all thirty pounds of him out in my arms. He didn’t seem to mind. Breakfast was next. And who knows, one of these lonely nights I may decide I’d rather have Pip in my bed than nothing at all.

And what a noble beast he is! This morning he encountered a frantically barking tiny dog; they are always the most aggressive barkers, having nothing else to offer. Pit stood staring. He would have liked to play with the tiny tyrant; he’s lonely for dog companions. But, no dice. And never a bark from him, never a lunge.

He’s proving to be a great trail dog, too. Meeting something about his size but old and timid this morning, he greeted her politely; her owner congratulated me on adopting a black male pit bull, opining, as I did in my last post, that these dogs are seldom adopted not only because of suspicions about the breed but because of the underlying racism that controls so many of our decisions, even if only on an unconscious level.

The truth is, his glossy black self looked pretty good in my white bed. Who knows what I’ll allow this weekend—as a special celebration for the Fourth of July?

Share
Tweet
Share
Buffer
0 Shares

In My Family Black Pip

A long and fruitful career as a writer began in 1960 with the publication of Sallie Bingham's novel, After Such Knowledge. This was followed by 15 collections of short stories in addition to novels, memoirs and plays, as well as the 2020 biography The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke.

Her latest book, Taken by the Shawnee, is a work of historical fiction published by Turtle Point Press in June of 2024. Her previous memoir, Little Brother, was published by Sarabande Books in 2022. Her short story, "What I Learned From Fat Annie" won the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize in 2023 and the story "How Daddy Lost His Ear," from her forthcoming short story collection How Daddy Lost His Ear and Other Stories (September 23, 2025), received second prize in the 2023 Sean O’Faolain Short Story Competition.

She is an active and involved feminist, working for women’s empowerment, who founded the Kentucky Foundation for Women, which gives grants to Kentucky artists and writers who are feminists, The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, and the Women’s Project and Productions in New York City. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sallie's complete biography is available here.

Comments

  1. Kela says

    July 5th, 2015 at 8:50 pm

    For generations, Brits kept Pits like Pip expressly because they were known to be so good with children and very protective of them. “Nanny” dogs they were called.

    Every stereotype is rooted in some shred/s of some person’s/persons’ experiences/experience at some point in human history.

    Some “typing” is positive and worth exploitation. Sadly, the negative versions are the more enduring.

    Sally, I shall always think of Pip as your “nanny” dog.

    Wishing you, etal and pup to be well and happy,

    Kela

    Reply
  2. Susan Munroe on Facebook says

    July 6th, 2015 at 11:01 pm

    Learned something new…

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

You might also like

  • Pip on Rug
    Dog Love
    He let me know he feels leashes are an indignity by chewing up two of them and making good progress on the third....
  • Black Pip
    Black Pip
    I have never understood prejudice although I grew up encased in its most virulent form, in the pre-integration south. Hatefulness always seems to me put on, curiously beside the point, as though an evil wind passed through and deposited nas...
  • Photo of Pip the dog in the garden
    The Death of Pip
    Pip, my shelter dog pitbull mix, died peacefully on Saturday after nine years of a beautiful life, hiking, enjoying the dog park, going with me on all kinds of adventures....
  • Coyote, New Mexico
    Pip’s Wild Friends
    Life gets pretty boring for a lone dog like Pip, especially now—it is so hot and the hiking trails are so crowded we don't go there much....
 

Subscribe

 

Latest Comments

  • Martha White on The Fruits of the Past Five Years: “Eudora Welty’s One Writer’s Beginnings: “And suddenly a light is thrown back, as when your train makes a curve, showing…” July 6th, 11:14 am
  • Nenita on The Fruits of the Past Five Years: “I like your writings, I can relate to you. If I had been persevering and seriously aware of my interests…” July 6th, 11:13 am
  • Sallie Bingham on Whose Eyes: “Thank you, James – you are correct!” June 29th, 11:19 am
  • Martha White on Feeding the Fish: “Blinkying Report:: Our neighborhood rabbits have been observed leaping into the air three or four feet off the ground. It…” June 29th, 8:10 am
  • Martha White on Whose Eyes: “Subtle. The “b” stays silent—subtle, even.” June 24th, 12:59 pm

Watch Sallie

Taken By The Shawnee

Taken By The Shawnee

July 6th, 2025
Sallie Bingham introduces and reads from her latest work, Taken by the Shawnee.
Visiting Linda Stein

Visiting Linda Stein

March 3rd, 2025
Back on October 28th, 2008, I visited artist Linda Stein's studio in New York City and tried on a few of her handmade suits of armor.

Listen To Sallie

Rebecca Reynolds & Salie Bingham at SOMOS

Rebecca Reynolds & Salie Bingham at SOMOS

November 8th, 2024
This event was recorded November 1, 2024 in Taos, NM at SOMOS Salon & Bookshop by KCEI Radio, Red River/Taos and broadcast on November 8, 2024.
Taken by the Shawnee Reading

Taken by the Shawnee Reading

September 1st, 2024
This reading took place at The Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe, New Mexico in August of 2024.

Upcoming Events

Jul 25
July 25th - July 27th

The 9th Annual Taos Writers Conference

SOMOS Salon & Bookshop
Taos MO
Sep 23
All day

How Daddy Lost His Ear – Garcia Street Books

Garcia Street Books
Santa Fe NM
Sep 30
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm MDT

How Daddy Lost His Ear – The Church of the Holy Faith

The Church of the Holy Faith
Santa Fe NM
View all of Sallie's events

Latest Tweets

salliebingham avatar Sallie Bingham @salliebingham ·
1 Jul 1940081262770708499

Years ago a man I was in love with persuaded me to have a large fish pond dug near my studio. I think it was his attempt to be part of my necessarily solitary life there; like other such attempts it failed—and now I'm left with the fish pond! https://buff.ly/fGgnN39 #Koi #KoiPond

Image for the Tweet beginning: Years ago a man I Twitter feed image.
salliebingham avatar Sallie Bingham @salliebingham ·
30 Jun 1939751124925390864

Our wisdom outlasts kingdoms and democracies and tyrannies. It is for all places all people and all times. Unfortunately our wisdom can be bought, suborned, which is what I see in all the pretty women around Mr. T. "Lady Wisdom": https://buff.ly/mKAYBnf #HagiaSophia #DonaldTrump

Image for the Tweet beginning: Our wisdom outlasts kingdoms and Twitter feed image.
Load More

Recent Press

Sallie Bingham's latest is a captivating account of ancestor's ordeal
Pasatiempo, The Santa Fe New Mexican

“I felt she was with me” during the process of writing the book, Bingham says. “I felt I wasn’t writing anything that would have seemed to her false or unreal.”

Copyright © 2025 Sallie Bingham. All Rights Reserved.

Press Materials   —   Contact Sallie

Privacy Policy

Menu
  • Events
  • Blog
    • Doris Duke
    • Best of 2024
    • My Favorites
    • Full Archives
    • Writing
    • Women
    • Philanthropy
    • My Family
    • Politics
    • Kentucky
    • New Mexico
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Theater
    • Religion
  • Books & Plays
    • Doris Duke
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Plays
    • Poetry
    • Anthologies
  • Writing
    • Short Stories
    • Poems
    • Plays
    • Translations
  • Resources
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Print
    • Biography
  • About
    • Contact