Sunday, March 20, 2016

All dogs go to Heaven, at least mine do

My fur baby, Hurley
Nothing will rip your heart out quite like losing a pet.  Those little furry animals that can drive us crazy getting into the trash, or chewing up our kid's toys,  or taking an occasional dump at the top of the stairs, leave a huge whole in our lives when it's their time to go. 



Hurley was six on New Years Day this year.  She was a puggle, a pug/beagle mix, the kind of dog I had wanted for years. We got her on a whim on a trip to Kansas City on a weekend in March of 2010.  It was slushy out, and my car had slid into a ravine, and gotten banged up a little on the way down, so I was a little down in the dumps.  Russ, not knowing how to cheer me up any other way, told me we could go look at puppies.  I don't think he realized at the time I would have my heart set on coming home with one.  So my friend and I set off to the mall, and in Petland, there was a puggle up for adoption.  My heart was hooked.  I went back to our friend's house, where Russ was waiting, and pulled up Puggle breeders in the Kansas City area on line.  After calling several, we found one that had one male left, ready to go that night, and the price was considerably less than any of the others.  Bingo, there was my dog.

So my friend and I took off to meet the breeders at a half way point, leaving the guys back at the house.  The halfway point was a casino called "Terribles".  The lady told us to meet her at the very back edge of the parking lot.  While waiting in the pitch black parking lot, and making many references to "The Hill Have Eyes", a van that I was surprised was even able to travel at highway speeds pulled up, and out stepped a little old lady, rollers still in her hair, ready to hand off my puppy.  She opened the back of that van, stuffed full of dog kennels, and pulled out the cutest puppy I have ever seen.  And when she handed him over, the smell hit me like a brick wall.  This dog smelled like it had been rolling around in a pile of dead carcasses. 
The cutest, smelliest puppy I had ever seen

Straight to Wal-Mart we went to buy dog shampoo, a collar, and other puppy essentials.  But we couldn't leave this new puppy in the car alone... thank God for big purses.  My friend cleaned out her purse, in went the puppy, and in we went to Wal-Mart.  The only problem was the still un-named puppy didn't realize that barking and whining was not supposed to be coming from the inside of that purse.  We got some rather strange looks from strangers as we were walking through the aisles getting what we needed, and even more looks when the smell would hit the passer-byes.

The bath was the first thing in order as soon as we got "puppy" home.  The name could wait.  This smell was a dire situation.  Several shampoos later, "puppy" smelled better, but there was still a faint stench.   What did this crazy ladies with the rollers in her hair keep these puppies in?  And after several names tossed back in forth, we somehow settled on "Hurley". 

The kids were so excited when we brought this puppy home.  And even my dad, who was pretty convinced I didn't need another dog, could help but fall in love with this dog.  He just kept laughing and saying "Yup, that sure is a cute little BOY", and stressing the last part.  I didn't know why he thought it was so humorous that I got a male dog.  He decided that instead of calling her "Hurley", he was going to call him "Himley".  After about a week of letting us wonder what was so funny, he decided to let us in on the joke.  "Did you ever notice your dog squats to pee?"  Well ya, but "he's" a puppy, so he just doesn't lift his leg yet, I've seen other male dogs do that... But he picked Hurley up, and pointed her belly at me, and proceeded to point out that what I thought were Hurley's "balls" was actually a hernia... "Her" privates were definitely innies, not outies.... We had a female.  The vet confirmed it a couple of days later.  But we already loved her, there was no way we were sending her back.

So she weaseled her little way into my heart.  She was Russ's first pet, so she got rather spoiled there.  She was too cute to resist.  And she knew it.  While trying to housebreak her, one night she jumped onto my bed, looked me dead in the eye, and took a dump right in the middle of the bed...  She was bold.  She was going to be noticed, and this never changed.  She always made sure everyone knew she was in the room.  And if you turned your back on her for a second, she was either in the trash, or into something that she shouldn't be. 

Over time she got increasingly fat.  We even discovered if I picked her up and squeezed her, she would fart.  And she regularly got the walking farts.  She fill a room with love, but she could clear one with her gas in no time flat.

Hurley and Zailey waiting for their treats
Then Friday, I got home from work, and she was just gone.  She looked like she was just sleeping in her kennel.  I knew when she didn't jump out at me like she always did that something was very wrong.  My heart broke instantly.  Then I looked over at Zailey, our other puggle, and she was just staring into Hurley's kennel, whining, and all of the hair on her back was raised.  She knew.  She had just been to the vet this fall, where they said she was healthy, just needed to lose a little weight.  I don't know what happened, all I know is that my heart is broken.

We buried her next to Bill, my 15 year old min pin that passed in January.  I still have Zailey, who is getting very spoiled, but I don't think I will ever get another dog.  They just break your heart when they leave.  They fill it while they're here, but there's a huge void when they're suddenly not.  They're not "just a dog".  They're a part of the family.   A huge part.  They play their own little role just like the rest of us.  And for those that say that dogs don't have souls, I think you're wrong.  I think they have more of a soul than most of us humans.  And I don't want to picture a heaven without dogs.  Especially without mine that I have lost.  Hurley is up there waiting for her humans along with Bill and Annie (my boxer that passed in 2011).  My heaven will definitely include them.  I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'd like to think that these 3 are up there playing together again,
waiting for the day their "humans" join them

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