FREEDOM TO CHOOSE: A BLESSING OR A CURSE. I JUST HAD A WEIRD DEJA VU. AND NOT BECAUSE IT'S PART 3. GAVE ME THE CHILLS.

I know I have to get to this part. It's why I started this post in the first place. Should we get a dog now, later or never?

 

 

I returned from the Florida trip a very upset woman. Then, my car kept dying and I sold it and decided to lease. After what I had been through I was going to treat myself. A Honda Accord EX with most of what I wanted. And get it, I did.

I was so excited when I picked it up. I stopped by my friend's house and took them for a spin.  Then I went home.

I got up the next morning to get an alarm put in. I know, nice irony there. I walked down the block looking for my car. I thought I'd lost my mind.

I went home. Told myself, no, I parked it up towards Bell Blvd. and went back again to look. I went all the way to the corner and back. No car. No broken glass. No nothing. I ran back and forth for a while before I could let the reality set in.

 

I called the police and insurance company and did what I had to do. The men at the Honda dealer laughed when they saw me come in the next day. Just like they laughed when they saw me pick it up with the "Club", the anti-theft device.

I no longer cared what I leased. So I got a Civic. Plain and serviceable. Again, was there some irony in that? Was it Dot's plan that I should have a Civic?

HERE SHE IS IN HER CORNER.

I was bereft. I didn't know what to do. Labor day week end was upon us and I'd be going back to work. I was driving a rental until my car came in and I thought, "I should get a dog. Just like Muffin."

I knew nothing of breeders or puppy mills back then, so I called a store in Flushing and asked if they had any Malts. They did, and I drove right over.

 

There were three little balls of fur in the pen. Two boys and a girl. I knew in my heart I wanted a girl. I had no children, had had a sister and thought it would be better for me.

They picked up each separately and put them into my arms. The boys were both full of fire. Then, came the girl. She lay on my chest and looked at me. I thought she'd be dull, but I wanted what I wanted so I adopted (bought) her.

I remember the drive home. She was lying on a pile of newspaper on the floor of the passenger side, looking terrified. I couldn't believe I'd done it.

I set her up in the little bathroom and put out wee wee pads and set up the crate and her food. She was still shell shocked.

That lasted for two days.

After that I had my hands full, and I had to go back to work.

 

 

 

eating one of my shoes which she could almost fit in.

When I put her in her crate, I felt like a jailor. I put it in the bedroom, but she moaned and I caved. Her name was Chloe. My two Goddaughters helped me choose it. Perfect.
I read books. I thought if I put her on my bed, she would not pee or poop on it as it was her space. I wasn't wrong about that. However, she'd only stay on at night when I was in bed. And, she apparently liked to eat hair. Mine. Or nibble on my fingers and toes. With those tiny baby teeth with the other set waiting to come out.

 OUCH!

 

Those first few months were a nightmare. I slept completely under the covers or she'd bite me anywhere that she could.

She was not easily trained. She would stand on the wee wee pad with her front paws, and pee on the floor in back of it.

I remember wondering about giving her up. Then I thought about people who adopted kids. You can't give them back. Well, not usually and that too is another story I know but won't tell.

I decided I wasn't a quitter and I'd just have to keep at it.

miss thing up north in Great Neck.

On top of this, my neighbor had moved because her apartment, the same as mine, had been burglarized. I had put in for an apartment in Great Neck that was rent stabilized, but hard to get into. Except that the woman who owned it all was a pet lover. She would give priority to people who had a pet whose landlord was not letting them stay. So, I kind of fudged that part. But she was the reason I got the great apartment in Great Neck.

 

Packing and training her at the same time was awful. One time I didn't know what to do with her, so I had her on a leash and put the handle under the coffee table so I could pack. While I sat there, I thank God noticed that she'd spun around and was choking on the leash. I panicked and tried to unclip her lead, but realized all I had to do was pick up the table and she was free. Off she went.

 

I had hundreds of boxes and put them across the living room so she couldn't go in and poop or pee on the rug. I wanted my deposit back.

I came home from work and she had disappeared. I was frantic. I looked everywhere and then I heard a yelp. From the living room. She had nosed aside some boxes and gotten in, but couldn't get out.

By the time we moved we'd made progress with her training. Although I had to go walk up and down three flights of stairs every time I had to take her out.

I'll tell one more story of how we finally bonded. Even though it's a bit gross which is one of my reservations about getting another dog.

 

Chloe and Honey. My fearless baby.

 

It was Christmas and I had up a small tree. I came home and she wasn't her peppy self. (peppi was one of her nicknames). I couldn't figure what it was, but I knew something was wrong. She looked uncomfortable. I noticed something shiny by her butt. Yes. My girl had ingested a long strand of tinsel.

the red was supposed to be a cross. she was a nurse for Halloween.

So I did what any loving parent would do. I put her on the bed, and very slowly and carefully extracted it. I could see the relief in her eyes when I was done. We locked eyes and she paired me with the relief. And that was it. She was truly my baby.

 

My husband fell in love with her too, although men and little floofie dogs don't match.

 

We had her until she was nearly 17 years old. She in some way, even made her death easy for me. I wasn't really given the decision to put her down.  She went out at 5 am. She was taking too long to come in from the lanai so I went out and she was at the end of the pool.

I grabbed her and brought her in screaming. We thought she was gone, but I found a pulse. We raced her to the emergency room, but the doctors told us she had too much fluid in her lungs and the best we could hope for would be her suffering for a few days. So we did what had to be done.  That was probably 8 years ago and I can still cry. Well, you who understand will understand.

 

Benny lying between two of his beds.

I have a lot of photos of her, but not scanned in. I'll just find some of the ones I have and post them as a memorial. And tell you. I still have no answer.

It took us two years to adopt a rescue. A ten year old poodle named Benny Boo Boo. We had him for nearly four years. He took was a precious little bite of love.

He had one tooth, was going deaf and blind and then got dementia. But he was still a bundle of love.

We had to let him go two years ago at Christmas. My husband's mom was dying in NY and we had to go back and he should have been put down but we couldn't. There again, our hands were forced. And again I'm crying.

 

And these are all the pros for having a dog. Well, maybe not the dying part. That really sucks.

 

Benny and his friend Tigey.