You came to us at five weeks old. What a tiny thing you were. We bought a toy stuffed bone that was bigger than you. That toy has remained you favorite toy through all the years.
You loved to play. We would be walking through the house and you would be walking in front of us putting your toy on our foot with each step. Yeah, that got our attention and let us know you were ready to play. Then when we did sit to play, you would hold the toy under your body clutching it in our mouth and holding it under your body while holding on with your front feet. You would actually throw the toys and chewies at us as well as bump them into our legs if we weren’t
prompt with your demands.
We tried to bed you at night in the laundry room since you weren’t house broken yet. By the second night we had you in bed with us. Oh how you cried. We spoiled you completely.
From the beginning you got your way. If we accidentally woke you in the middle of the night to move you so we could have a part of the bed you would get grumpy. Well you slept sideways and took way more than your share of the bed! We commented when you were very young what a grumpy old lady you would be and we were right. You never bit us but always let us know to leave you alone when you were sleeping. And that was ok, you were spoiled and had to have your way. That was that.
House training was a challenge so, only for you, we cut a doggie door through our brick house. It seemed like overnight you were trained.
You loved us incredibly and started something that I don’t think you could have ever been trained to do: at bed time you would give us kisses all over our faces. Our heads, ears, eyes, nose, neck. You couldn’t go to sleep til you had your lovins complete.
You also liked nesting. Funny this was that you would dig and pile with the blanket still in your mouth. We had a good time laughing at that.
You didn’t like being left alone while we were at work so we brought home a little sister for you, Sissy.
At first you didn’t like sharing the attention at all. Though you were always bigger in stature than her, you always let her win at everything. If you were playing tug, or chasing your toy, king of the couch, or wrestling with her, you always let her win. When you played with Sissy you would straddle her to try to get the toy away. It was like one big furry ball that had two faces.
You would have been a great mom. The problem would have been that no one would ever have been good enough to adopt your puppies and we would have had a house full of your babies.
You had a habit of going into the garden to raid the tomatoes. You loved veggies but these were some that you could help yourself to, day or night. You were also our flower child, you would raid the flowers and roses eating the petals. You would look at us so innocently but many was the time you had the evidence still in your hair. We finally decided that is wasn’t hurting you so we just gave in to you, again…..
We started taking you outside to get groomed. One day, right before our trip to the NorthWest, (and of course you and Sissy both accompanied us on most of our vacations), we took the two of you to get groomed. They cut you and you were swollen and sore for several days. That was the last time someone else cut your hair. From then on I did it myself. We showered both of you when we took our showers and you insisted on being blow-dried. No matter if it was the middle of summer,
you had to be blow-dried.
You never knew a single day of not being loved and how you took advantage of it. If it ever happened that you did not get your way you would sulk. You had a catlike attitude of how lucky we were to have you. You’ve always been more of a Daddy’s girl but you loved us both. You would get in the chair with Dad and sit upright beside him to watch TV. We always threatened to take your TV away from you because you would really watch it. You would see other animals on TV and just start barking at them. You would get in your strong defensive posture and stand in front of the TV. When the animal on TV would not respond you would run outside looking to drive it away from that angle.
At Christmas both you and Sissy got your gifts. You are really a smart little thing, more person than dog. You got to where you understood that something wrapped meant a toy or something to eat. All the gifts would be wrapped around the tree and you constantly sniffed at all of them and sat at the base of the tree whining because you wanted to open yours now. You loved tearing the paper open. Even after your toys were open you wanted to help us open ours.
You were a good friend to Sissy. We enjoyed watching her bury the chewies outside then watch you follow her and dig them up.
You loved to travel! Words such as walk or ride were enough to get you so excited you would almost hyper-ventilate. You also loved the water. From your first experience you would immediately head for the water. First thing you would do is squat to take a leak in the water. I don’t think we ever got over the humor of that. You didn’t just walk in the water, you would take a short swim then head right back to shore.
Your loyalty to us was obvious every day. You didn’t like sharing us with anyone but Sissy. We saw you chase off a cocker spaniel one day on a fishing trip. The message was obvious: stay out of our territory.
When Sissy left us, you were depressed and tried looking for her for about 10 days. During this time you became even more spoiled than before since we did all we could to give you extra attention knowing that you were suffering her loss with us.
We were devastated on your yearly trip to the vet to learn that you had congenital kidney failure. It was only a matter of time when you would be joining Sissy. In nine short months we lost you both.
Fancy, you were the one that taught Dad that a dog is more than a dog, you are a member of the family, and boy did he learn that lesson in a big way. You taught him well. We were proud to share your house with you. We were proud to share your life with you.
Chase your squirrels with your Sissy and watch for us when it is our time to join you. We love you baby girl, we miss you so.
We Love You and Miss You Baby,
| Fancy |
| James and Vicki Smith |