Dec. 1981 —- March 28 2000
Cairn Terrier / Poodle Mix
The Humane Society had an Adopt a Pet Day on their lawn.
They had wire cages turned up-side-down with pets inside.
As my two boys husband and I walked up and down the rows trying
to find the right pet we came upon one cage with two small dogs.
As we peered in one of them peered back at us and reached over and
pushed on the sleeping one to wake him.
It was if he was saying “Hey wake up somebody is looking at us.”
He stole our hearts and we chose him. He was like a terrier except for
curly reddish poodle hair down his back.
One ear stood up and the other flopped over. His ears were too
big for his head and quite frankly as my husband said he looked like he’d
been pulled through a fan backward !
But as the years went by he kept us cheered with his funny antics.
Once the cat was headed toward his feeding dish and he rushed over
picked the dish up with his teeth and slid it under my lawn chair for me
to guard for him. He loved chasing a tennis ball and ONLY a tennis ball would do.
When our boys were busy he’d push the ball through the chain link fence for the
neighbor boys to throw for him. Once I trimmed his hair and then we
happened to go on a trip. My daughter came to feed him and he ran out in the
yard and picked up a whisp of his hair and dropped it at her feet as if to say,
“Look what she did to me!”
Oh the stories go on and on and his life went on and on as he started toward
twenty years of age. His reddish hair was layered with grey his ears usually lay
back a little and his tail lost the curl over his back but his love for us and
ours for him never wavered.
He was a joy in the darkest of times. I would say
“I love you ol’ Sneph” and he’d gently lick my arm.
He became blind and deaf and developed severe cognitive degeneration (alzheimers).
I wanted to look after him until his heart stopped but weak as it was it beat
on and on. He couldn’t find his food and water dish nor his house to get out of the rain.
He ran into things and saw only light and dark.
In mercy we took him to the vet and said good-bye. In despair we returned to
an empty yard and emptier hearts.
I know a lot of people say they won’t get another pet..but we honestly will never
have the heart to get another dog. Neo-Synephrine was no bigger than a sneeze
is why we named him after the nose spray…but we are forever grateful for the
big memories we have of the scruffiest sweetest dog in the world.
Joyce
| Neo-Synephrine |