In 1999, I lost my beagle that I had for 11 years. She developed mammary gland cancer and I had to put her to sleep. I did so on the day we were leaving for a family vacation. While on vacation, my hubby found "the dog I always wanted" and we came back from vacation with a dappled dachshund puppy that was 5 weeks old, weighed 2.25 pounds and fit in our hands when they were cupped. I was determined not to fall in love with him because I just lost Bailey. It took him less than a month to win me over.
He did so with his head that seemed too big for his body, his floppy ears, his one blue eye, his sweet disposition and the look of total adoration that he gave me on a regular basis. I had him for 12 years and lost him this weekend. As far as I can tell his heart gave out. He was fine and then 2 hours later he was not. The good news is that he enjoyed his life right up through the last day on earth. I have been thinking of all the cute memories of him that we have enjoyed over the years. I will share some of them with you.
It took him so long to learn to bark that we thought he might not be able to. Once he learned he made up for lost time! Every day when I came home he barked to let the household know that I was here. It was a happy bark which made me laugh each and every day! I would come in and say, "that's right, tell them...Mommy's home!'. He always wagged his tale and ran into the kitchen to tell Griff I was home...barking all the way.
When he was tiny, he would follow me around and grab my pant's leg with his teeth. I can't tell you how many times I drug him through the house and how many pairs of my jeans had holes in the bottom of the legs.
I love french onion dip. When I would eat chips and dip I would give him the occassional chip. One day, I gave him a chip with dip on it. After that, he would not eat any chip unless it had dip on it. If you gave him one without dip, he would spit it out and look at me as if to say, 'really, did you really think I would eat that? Dip please.' It never failed to make me laugh.
Jake believed I belonged to him and constantly tried to ensure that Griff never got closer to me than he was. We called it the 'dog width apart' rule. If we got closer than a dog width, he did everything he could to get in between us.
We went on a family vacation when Jake was less than a year old to Florida. While we were there, we took him to the beach. He learned to dig there and would dig wherever I patted the sand. He would dig furiously to see what he could find. Not long after that vacation he began to pop rocks. That is what we called it when he would find a small rock and rake it with his foot until he managed to throw it behind him. He would then pounce on it and start raking it again. He could amuse himself for hours that way.
We took him on long walks over the years. He would jump up on the curb and try to walk the entire way on whatever curb he could find. He was very sure-footed. When he was 2 years old, we got another dachshund, Roxy. We called her Jake's girlfriend and he was enamored with her from the first time he saw her. She was the only one that he was ok with walking in front of him when we took them on walks. Anybody else and he would practically run to be in the front of the path but not Roxy.
When he was a puppy we started a game. Every time I made the bed I put him on it and he would roll over and have me rub his tummy. He played that game up until the week he died. It carried over to other times such as when I would pick him up to carry him downstairs when he got old.
So many good memories wrapped up in that little dog. I am trying to dwell on them. Rest well my little Man Dog. Your mama loves you!
