Showing posts with label Dogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dogs. Show all posts

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Love never dies.

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

For Raven

In 2019, I went to Tennessee for a few days. Towards the end of my trip, my phone buzzed with a text message from my parents.

"Did you know Raven likes pulled pork sandwiches?"

Raven was my then 8-year-old Pug, who was blind. I'm pretty sure my response was, well, why would she not like pulled pork sandwiches?

I got Raven in 2015 after the puppy mill she lived at got rid of her. She was blind then and had never known life outside of a cage. 

Raven was always a different dog, and it didn't take me long to notice that she had some special needs. My favorite thing about her was that she stayed put and never ran away. (Blind dogs don't run.) Two months after I got Raven, Pickles came into our life, and as a puppy Pickles could run a 5-minute mile. 

But this blog post is about Raven. 

Raven crossed the Rainbow Bridge a couple of weeks ago, which was one of the most heartbreaking days of my life. I'm a firm believer that dogs tell you when they're ready to go, and my girl was ready to go. 

In the end, she went in my arms, surrounded by love. 

With me she knew grass and sunshine, was surrounded by family, got used to the loudness of kids and had her Pug sisters to cuddle with.

On her last night, I told her that she would never be alone. I slept next to her, and cried, while Penny Pug said goodbye to her and licked my tears away. 

During the winter, Raven could always be found by the space heater. Raven Pug had an excellent sense of hearing and used it to make up for her blindness. 


Raven was sensitive to sounds, yes, but she was also a source of sound. She let her dislikes be known by screaming at me at the top of her lungs. Among her top dislikes were wet grass during a morning potty, the sound that trains make, and thunder during storms. Despite her screaming, her tail always wagged in public and she was always quiet in public. 

She liked my parents, especially my Dad. Her tail wagged extra for him.

I named Raven after my favorite poem, The Raven. I named her based on her personality, not her color, and people always assumed that Raven was my black Pug. 

No, Raven was my moody fawn Pug. If she were a person, she'd be off in a corner during a party writing dark poetry in a corner of a room, all by herself. 

That's just Raven for you. 

I still look for my old girl, and I can't believe she's not here. I can't believe I had a day to say goodbye and just like that, she was gone. 

Gone, but not forgotten.

I love you, Raven. I hope I gave you the life that you deserved. 






Monday, May 9, 2022

Today was one of those days.

I went home over the weekend, unexpectedly. 

The first thing I did when I walked in the door was tell my Mom and Dad’s old dog, Carly, hi. At 16, Carly always made sure to come see me when I came home.

 

I gave her a few gentle scratches, and she went off to her own little world to sleep.

 

At 3 a.m. Sunday, I woke up and met my Mom in the living room. The reason for our meeting wasn’t good.

 

We both knew it was time.

 

When I went to leave on Sunday afternoon, I gave Carly a few more pets. I scratched her head. She was pretty happy.

 

I knew it would be the last time that I’d see her.

 

Before I left, I went to pet her one more time.

 

I told her goodbye.

 

When Carly crossed the Rainbow Bridge on Monday morning, I sent my best friend a message, letting her know.

 

My friend’s response: I’m glad Carly waited to see you first.

 

Carly did wait for me. I’m thankful for that.

 

--

 

In 2006, my family and I put one of my childhood dogs down. I was in college at the time, and it was the first time that I had ever put a dog to sleep.

 

I had that dog since I was 8, and I was a wreck.

 

I cried every single night for weeks. One night, my parents came downstairs and asked me what would make me feel better.

 

I told them a puppy.

 

The next day, my Mom called me at work. She told me to come home after work because I had to meet someone.

 

And that’s how I met little Carly Sue.

 

Carly was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. She was a mutt, part Corgi and part Heeler.



She was basically a Corgi with long, freckly legs.

 

Carly was tiny, and Carly hated people. She loved our other big dog, a Collie named Socks. But for the longest time, Carly hated everyone.

 

I took her downstairs and held her for an entire episode of Law & Order. Carly never once looked at me for that hour. She looked at the ceiling, at the walls, at the television, but never once at me.

 

Carly! I remember thinking that she’d be a whole lot cuter if she just liked people more. (Her personality never really changed.)

 

When my best friend came over and asked to see our new puppy, we told her sure, if you can catch her.

 

We caught Carly by throwing a laundry basket over her in the backyard.

 

She was mostly attached to other dogs, but eventually, she warmed up to us.

 

I remember my Dad and I took her to a nearby lake one winter day. There was still ice in the center of the lake, and my Dad and I were looking the view, talking with each other. We weren’t paying much attention to Carly, who was snooping around.

 

Carly jumped in the lake.

 

I asked my Dad if she could swim. He said he hoped so, because he didn’t want to jump in the freezing lake to get her.

 

She doggy paddled her little heart out, and to my knowledge, Carly never jumped in water again. (Too cold.)

 

Carly loved other dogs. She loved Penny, my old dog who is still around, and she loved Chief, my aunt’s old dog. For her entire life, Carly always had a Collie with her. When we took her and the Collies walking, people would stop and make fun of her.

 

They called her a Collie wannabe. A groupie, if you will.

 

She didn’t really care if the other dog was big or little, she just loved being around other dogs. I don’t know how many photos of Carly and Penny we have together, snuggled up and sleeping together.




She also loved Jasper, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge last year.

 

You can have 16 good years with a dog, full of tail wags, kisses and snuggles, walks and belly rubs and romps in the snow, and then one bad day comes along, turns your life upside down and completely wrecks your soul forever.

 

Today was one of those days.

 

In our family, we grieve the loss, and then we stop to remember that it is possible to love again. I think some people get so upset at the thought of putting another dog down that they vow to never have another pet again.

 

In our family, we learn to love again. We do eventually get another dog, and we learn to trust new beginnings and accept someone new into our life.

 

I think we just need to wake up to a dog’s love at our feet. I’ve had that my entire life, and I’ll have that forever.

 

What Carly loved most of all was other dogs, and I hope she’s surrounded by all her friends who passed before her.

 

Goodbye, Carly. You were a perfect, feisty little dog.

 

We love you.

Friday, October 4, 2019

Blind dog

My blind dog loves my parents. Other than feeding her pork when they're dog sitting for me, I've been trying to figure out why she loves them so much and loves being at their house so much.

Last night, I was on the phone with my Mom.

Mom: "When Raven's here, Dad picks her up and holds her. She falls asleep in his lap."

Well, there you go. I think I just found the reason why the blind dogs loves her grandparents so much.

Also, my Dad put a sticker on my blind dog's head and then called her Vision.

:)

I see you have heat. I like heat. - Raven

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Weird sentences

I laid in bed last night, thinking about life.

I have a pretty impressive bruise on my leg from the day's shenanigans. I laid awake thinking of the sentence that I could come up with that would best describe how I got that injury.

Here's what I came up with: I have a huge bruise on my leg because I rammed it into a shopping cart while I ran over a porkchop.

I wish I was kidding.

I'm not.

That incident is my second favorite that's happened this year that warrants a weird explanation. A couple of months ago, while I was shaving my legs in the shower, I cut my nose with the razor that I had in my hand.

Don't ask me how it happened, because I have no idea.

I left it alone and it healed nicely. However, explaining to people why I had a wound on my face was kind of an awkward conversation.

Something like: Apparently you need to pay attention to where your face is when there's a sharp object in your hand. Who knew?

Every morning when I put makeup over the scar on my nose, I think about all the weird sentences that I've come up with in my life.

This morning, when it was pouring rain outside: We have a moist Pickles who's probably going to poop in my house today.

Life is wild and crazy.

---

One more note...

Fall weather!

Monday, June 10, 2019

Penny

On Sunday afternoon, I laid down to take a nap.

You could say that I'm a big fan of naps.

I had a dream that I was sleeping next to someone who was snoring.

I woke up to discover Penny snoring right by my head. She usually sleeps by my hip or my feet, so her snores were a little closer than usual.

That was the best dream and best nap ever.

:)


Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Life in photos

Penny kisses.

Just blind dog stuff.

I had a big ass tree removed. Sweet.

Sweet dreams, Pickles.

The horsey jackets kill me every time the kids wear them.

Is this hamburger missing something?

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Lost little Pickle

Last Friday night, I was hanging out in my house and watching tv.

The dogs were outside. They like being outside at night, and they actually bug me if I make them stay inside when I get home from work.

So the fur children were hanging out and being dogs outside.

Around dark, I went to let them in.

The fawn children were outside sleeping by each other. They woke up when I hollered at them, and they both came inside.

But the black fur child did not come inside.

Sometimes she falls asleep in whatever random hole she dug that day, and I have to go around looking for her. I walked all over my backyard looking for Pickles, and my heart sank when I saw that one of my gates was wide open.

OH MY GOD.

I asked the neighbor kids if they had seen my dog, and they said they had not.

I called my Mom in a panic, and then told her to come over right away.

My next order of business was to check Facebook, because that's what you do when dogs get lost.

There was a post that was a minute old. A family had found a cute little black dog by the country club.

Um, the country club is a mile from my house. ONE MILE AWAY.

I left my phone number with the lady and waited for her to call me. Not even a minute later, my cell phone rang.

I dropped everything, grabbed my keys and went to get my dumbass escapee.

Pickles ran away to the right house. When I pulled up and parked across the street, they had given her food and water and were loving on her.

Pickles ran up to me, wagged her tail, and started kissing me.

I thought, dog, if you missed me then why did you run away?

I used to make fun of people who lost their dogs. Now, I have a dog who will bolt out of doors and gates if given the chance and 2 seconds to do it.

I'm extremely lucky that I found her.

Also, my gates now have shiny new locks on them and I check on the fur kids when they're outside without me.

I'm so sorry. I'll never run away again.
Lol jk, I'll totally do it again.


Tuesday, October 10, 2017

I don't know what to do when car doors do not open.


Scene 1:

I discovered yesterday on my lunch break that my car door did not open.

I don't know what to do when car doors do not open.

I crawled out the passenger side door, called the guy who fixes my car, then went and traded my Dad's perfectly fine truck for a car that doesn't have a functioning driver's side door.

(Cars are kind of like teeth. When it goes wrong, I know to call someone smarter than me.)

--

Scene 2:

While being laughed at by the guy who fixes my car, my Dad asks me if I want to lock my doors on my car while it's sitting in the parking lot of the fixing place.

Well, I said, if someone tries to steal it, they're going to have a really hard time opening the door.

Fyi, apparently if the hinge that holds the door open breaks, and you open your car door on a day where the wind is blowing 50 miles per hour, you can actually damage your front fender.

You can damage your front fender so much that the damn door will not open.

--

Scene 3:

My mom: Oh my God did you wreck your car? What did you hit?

Me: The wind. I hit the wind.

--

Scene 3:

My dumbass dog woke up at 4:30 a.m. and did not go back to sleep.

I worked up some tomatoes. I made a big breakfast. I did dishes. I watched the news curled up with a blanket and a space heater...all before 8 a.m.

Dog at 4:30 a.m.: Hey I have to go outside.
Dog at 4:32 a.m.: Oh my God it’s cold let me back in.
Dog at 4:33 a.m.: Hey since you’re awake do you wanna party?

Pugfest, Day 1