I love dogs.
I have always had a dog or two or three or more.
My dogs have been outside dogs usually big dogs.
My son had grown up and moved on in his life.
I was now by myself in the house.
I made up my mind that it was now time for me to get a
small house dog. I started by looking in the shelters
and checking the newspaper.
Several weeks of checking with the shelter no luck.
I checked the newspaper for several months no luck.
Every ad that I called was “Big Dog Puppies”.
I had made up my mind that I wanted a small dog.
I was just about to give up hope. There was one more ad this
day that I almost didn’t call. But I did.
The lady that I talked to sounded very disappointed when she
told me that her puppies were going to be small.
I guess everyone else that called her wanted big dogs.
I was so excited. She had 2 puppies left out of 5.
I got directions to her house and drove out there.
Both puppies looked just alike black and tan and hairy;
one was smaller than the other.
I decided on the smaller of the two.
The lady had already named the one that I picked out.
His name was ZIGGY. He was named for his daddy.
His daddy was a 2 pounds black and tan Chihuahua.
The mother was a 5 pounds white Maltese.
His daddy had gotten run over by a car a few weeks before.
I asked her if she didn’t want to keep him since she had named
him for his daddy. She said no you can have him just give
him a good home.
On the way home Ziggy cried. I put him on my chest and
held him close to me. He stopped crying.
This was the beginning of a very close loving
and long relationship.
I took Ziggy everywhere I could. He loved to ride in the car
and go on walks. He seemed to understand everything that
I said to him. People use to laugh at me when I told them this.
But it sure did seem like he knew what I was saying to him.
He was not a picky eater. Besides eating his own food
he’d eat anything that I was eating.
He even loved to drink Dr. Pepper.
Later in life you could tell he was a good eater.
He was just alittle over weight. He weighed in at 13 pounds
at most but about 11 pounds his last few years.
I would guess he should have weighed about 8 pounds.
I started taking him to Nursing Home visits with me.
He was only 3 months old his first visit.
We belonged to a group with the humane society that went to
Nursing Homes to visit with the people that lived there.
Everyone loved Ziggy.
He would do his tricks and entertained everyone.
He loved to go. You could say “Are you ready to go see
Grandma and Grandpa” and he would start spinning in circles.
He gave everyone kisses. We did this for about 10 years.
Ziggy was the light of my life.
He made my coming home from work worth while.
He was always there to meet me at the door.
He was always so happy to see me. I could just sit and pet him
for hours and talk to him.
Like I said he understood everything that I said.
When I was sad he was there and made me smile.
Ziggy was alot of company for me.
When Ziggy was 8 years old I met and married my present husband.
Ziggy liked my husband and my husband liked him.
It’s just like Ziggy knew there was room for one more.
Ziggy started to show his age this past year.
I had a feeling that I needed to enjoy him as much as I could
that there may not be too many more years together.
On his last night he didn’t eat or drink anything.
I had a feeling then that this might be our last time together.
I sat with him for a long time just petting him and talking to him.
Even though he couldn’t see or hear me I knew he knew I
was still there for him.
He looked up at me and had a look of love and relief.
The next morning he was gone.
I cried my husband cried. He was a good ole dog.
He will be missed but never forgotten.
He was 16 years 4 months old when he died.
He lived a good long life.
I will never forget the date that he died it was my birthday.
We laid him to rest under our flowering pear tree in our back yard.
He has birdhouses and wind chimes in the tree to keep
him company.
I put a heart shaped plaque with his name on it on his grave.
He will always be in my heart.
There are alot more memories of my Ziggy.
I am so lucky to have them for now until forever.
I know Ziggy is with GOD
all dogs go to heaven.
Melba
| Ziggy |
| Melba |