LifeSlices: It’s all about the dogs
My life has gone to the dogs, literally.
In December of 2001, Piffy came into my life. Her history is pretty unique, having come to me via the Rescue911 people through an animal-lover friend in Huntsville, Alabama. Her former owners were on one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center during 9/11. She’s California born & bred, half border collie and half lab. She’s been my friend for many years.
Her name is short for “epiphany,” something I had while dealing with her separation anxiety early on. I came to see that she was completely dependent on my presence, afraid to let go. As she overcame that, I overcame my dependency on people as well. Piffy seems an appropriate name.
And she used to have me all to herself until I moved to Texas. My daughter Brittany moved in with me last summer and brought her dog, Brandi Fate, and my life hasn’t been the same ever since. BF (a.k.a. “Boo-Boo”) is a very tiny miniature dachshund. She’s energetic and full of joy, and she’s caused a few raised eyebrows from Piffy.
The personality of that little dog is truly remarkable, and I can’t begin to tell you how much she means to me.
The two of them cause me to actually stop several times during the day and appreciate the moments that God has given me with them. They’ve become inseparable buddies, despite the differences in size and age. Piffy has become much more clingy, because she’s jealous as hell of all the cuddling that BF gets. I imagine Piffy thinks she, too, can fit in my jacket.
The little one loves to climb on my chest while I’m watching TV in bed at night and force me to kiss her cheek. She leans against my face so hard that I have no choice.
She used to drive me nuts with relentless licking, but now she’s just a kiss whore. It’s as if she just can’t get close enough.
The two of them will chase throughout the house, Piffy in the lead and BF yelping as they speed round and round. Piffy is house-broken, and BF has been litter box trained. When they go outside now, Piffy is teaching the little one how to be a real dog, and it’s absolutely hilarious.
Dogs — like all of creation except mankind — live in the moment, and they live every one as if it was the only thing that matters. The truth is they’re right.
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Thanks for sharing this, Terry. As we’re getting into the car to deal with the fact that we were about to adopt our third dog and now (through an improbable sequence of events) are actually about to get three AND four, this is a good reminder of why…