On My Mind

I don’t remember why we stopped at the Human Society that day. There were many people glancing into the cages, dogs looking up excitedly. One popular cage had 4 or 5 puppies looking up at the all the humans, their tails wagging. They looked up at me too, wanting to play. “Mom wants a big dog,” I said. These puppies would grow to be bigger than the dog I had at home. Though my conscience was telling me not to buy a dog, the puppies’ eyes were telling me yes. Pushing all thought aside, I purchased the only female left.
As my brother drove us home, I held the little pup in my lap. She lay there upside down, with her white paws bent, staring up at me. I stared back down at the puppy that would grow to be our loyal companion.
Mom wasn’t too happy when I returned with a puppy. Our talk about getting another dog was just that, talk. Naomi and Aurora, our dog and cat, were also not too happy with my new gift to them.
We named her Poppy (pronounced Puppy) because no other name fit. Little did we know at that time that we chose the name that would fit the best. She was a fur full of energy.
In reality, she caused us a lot of difficulty. As soon as she got big enough, she challenged Naomi for “top dog” standing. Poor Naomi’s life became very difficult. We were constantly breaking up fights. Aurora always had to be on guard as the only cat in a house with two dogs.
Poppy got into big trouble with the humans too. She started jumping the fence and running from the yard to roam the neighborhood. Those with cattle and farm animals did not approve. So, we invested in a higher fence. Six feet should be high enough, right? Not for this pup. She was an expert at high jumping. So more money went to adding to the fence. Our yard came to look like secret military fort. She quickly learned to climb the fence (yes, that’s right, climb) and jump over.
One day, after escaping our yard, we went looking for her without success. That night, she showed up at our front door. I immediately knew something was wrong when she hobbled into the house. She had been hit by…what? Was it a car she had been chasing or a horse? We called the vet emergency. Late that night the vet saw her. He stated that it appeared that nothing was broken and sent her home. He was wrong. Her tail lay between her legs and it fused that way. With this causing her problems, she was taken to a different vet. We were informed that her tail and pelvic bone had been broken. The tail could not be fixed and would have to be removed. She has ever since been a tailless dog with a slight indentation in her lower back.
She settled down a little bit after that. In 2001, Naomi died, followed a few months later by Aurora. Poppy became the only pet in the house. She was the only “baby.” She matured and her love and companionship to us grew. And she became my “cutie patutie puppy friend.”
Pup was a talented dog. She could jump up to 6 feet to catch a Frisbee and she caught it almost every time. What’s more, she even brought it back to us…as many of our former animals had not.
One of her quirks was her obsession with rocks. She somehow found every large rock in our yard. She would push the rock along the ground, then throw it up in the air and catch it on her nose. Some of these rocks were huge. And she barked incessantly at the rocks. We tried to get rid of all large rocks but she always found more. During one visit to the vet, he guessed, “She must play with rocks.” “How do you know?” we wondered. “All her teeth are broken,” was the reply.
As she got older she did not jump as much and the rocks did not fly as high. But she still had a lot of energy. She still loved to play soccer with us. The US national soccer team should have hired her as their goalie. My brother and I would try to get the ball past her. She was fast and would block the ball half the time. Sometimes she would roll it back to us. We played soccer with her for a while with her running the entire time. When done, she would limp back into the house and sleep the rest of the day. Sometimes I wondered if we would give her a heart attack with all that running.
Other times she would sleep all day almost. “She’s getting old,” we would say. Then my nieces would come over and all her old energy would surface. She would run and play all day then pass out at night. She usually slept the entire day after the kids left. “Pup, you’re not a young dog anymore.” But she never accepted that.
She was always the puppy. In our home was a basket filled with her toys. By the end of the day it would be empty and her toys spread out all over the floor. She wanted to play when I came home from work every day. She wanted to play when she came in from the cold outside. She wanted to play when the kids came over. She wanted to play before I went to bed. She always wanted to play. Even in her last week of life, with almost no energy left, she wanted to play.
She loved being scratched. She would push her head up against our legs so that we could scratch and pet her. The harder we scratched, the harder she pushed her head on our legs. Sometimes I would walk a little bit away to signal I was done. But she would just come right up and ask for more. She wanted loves.
She loved to be adored. If I gave attention when she was lying down, she would turn upside down and put her paws in the air. “Oh, such a cute puppy!” “Oh, how beautiful!” We would say. She adored the praise. Then I would rub her belly and she would bend her paws, just like the day I brought her home.
Poppy followed us around. If we were in the kitchen, she was in the kitchen. If we went to the living room, she would go to the living room. Whenever I went to do laundry, she would come with me and wait for me. She was always near one of us.
Her health declined this past month and we knew the end was near. She was 13 years old, very old for her breed. I hoped to see her again one more time but that was not to be. Yesterday the call came. She was put down after it was discovered that she had lung cancer that was slowly suffocating her. Today she was buried in our yard with her favorite toys from her basket.
I was not there to comfort her when she got sick. I was not there for her death. And I was not there for the burial today. But, she, the loyal companion, was here with me. She will always be in my memory. And she is now with all the other loving companions I have had the privilege of knowing. She is there with my dear Naomi, Aurora, ChiChi, Mimi, and all the others. And now, along with the others, she can be the loving companion to my father. He can now be the one to love and play with her.

Good-bye my dear Poppy friend. Thank you for your life.

While you could not speak the words,
I could hear the whispers of your voice.
Telling me it was time to go,
to celebrate your life and rejoice.

You decided it was time to go and
find your resting ground.
You lay down your tired head and
went without a sound.

In my heart I know you loved me,
as much as I loved you.
I pray you've found the peace,
that's helped to see me through.

I thank you for all the joy in my life and
the smiles you've brought to me.
May God guide you on your journey and
may your spirit always run free.

--Author UnknownSunlight streams through window pane