The True Loves of My Life

For those of you who have ever owned a pet or are an avid animal lover then you need to read Marley and Me by John Grogan. It’s a loveable tale of a family and their crazed manic dog Marley. Marley was a terror to behold as a puppy and as he grew into adulthood he still had plenty of antics left in him. But his family still loved him despite all of his faults and they came to admire his tenacity for life and his ability to love so freely. I breezed through this book in about two weeks. I would lie in bed at night and I would not want to put this book down. It’s a touching story that I could relate to because in my household we were always surrounded by dogs. I literally laughed out loud during some chapters because at least one of my dogs has committed the same crimes that Marley did. At the end of the story, I cried my eyes out remembering each passing of my babies.

After reading this book, I started to think about how blessed I am to have had unconditional love from all the dogs that graced my life. First there was OC. By the time I met OC he was an adult, settled into his mid-life and no longer the wild puppy that grew up with my brother. By the way OC stands for Out of Control. OC was such a sweet tempered dog. He did not have a mean bone in his body and was so polite and generous to all. He was so smart too. He could roll over, sit up and shake paws on command. OC was definitely my Brother’s dog. They grew up together from when my Brother was just a toddler. I was always jealous that my Brother had his own dog.

On my 7th birthday, I finally got my wish and got a dog of my own. Best Friend Ever had just gotten a puppy, but unfortunately for her, her Mom was allergic to him. So as my birthday present, BFE and her family gave me Coco. Coco was about 6 months old and the most arrogant Beagle-mix I had ever met. But I was so excited to finally have my own dog. I still remember that birthday party like it was yesterday. BFE comes through the door and the first thing I ask is “Where is my present (like the selfish little girl that I still am)?” And her Mom replied, “Coco is your present.” I screamed for my Mom saying, “I got a dog!” at the top of my lungs.

While OC was calm and collect, Coco was brash and arrogant. He looked around at his new digs and you could almost see the gleam in his eyes like he hit the jackpot. Talk about a dog that had airs. Like a typical Beagle, Coco was so stubborn. Never listened to a word we said to him, and only came to us when he felt like it. And poor OC was settling into retirement and now had to deal with this guy. Coco used to grab OC by the tail and just drag him around. And sweet OC let him. OC loved Coco as much as Coco loved OC.

OC died when I was 11 years old. In his old age he could no longer climb the stairs and my Dad would have to carry him to bed. He also started to get seizures. My parents didn’t want him to suffer anymore so they made the decision to put him to sleep. My brother during this time was away at college. I remember saying goodbye to OC and crying as my Dad took him to the vet. He was the first person with whom I loved dearly that died. I remember going to Coco for comfort and rejoicing in the fact that I still had him.

Just when we got used to having one dog in the house again, my Dad goes out and get two little puppies. The Twins as I like to refer to them came into my life when I was 13 years old. They were six weeks old and cute as pie. I fell in love with them the minute I laid eyes on them. One puppy was white with brown spots, while the other was white with black spots. We named them Brownie and Pepper. Talk about a handful. Even though they were twins, Pepper and Brownie were complete opposites of one another. Pepper was the brave one, nothing scared this little guy and he was always eating. Brownie was shyer, a little more timid than his outgoing brother. I remember Pepper used to chase Brownie around with an old beaten up plastic baseball bat. They loved that game.

Now it was Coco’s turn to be the old man. He took it well. But I know at times he was jealous at all the attention the two newest members of our family got. Coco was still top dog though. All he had to do was give the Puppies his Don’t Bother Me Stare and they would cower away from him. But Coco also loved playing with them. Brownie idolized Coco and would sit there and lick the inside of his ear. It was such a fun time to have puppies in the house. It’s amazing how fast they grow.

We were a happy family with 3 dogs in our lives and then came Bear. My Brother’s friend had found this dog left behind at a rest stop, and my Brother took him in. Bogey says that he was not allowed to have dogs in his place, but I think he just didn’t realize how much work it would take. So he dumped Bear on us. Man, the other dogs were not happy about this one. Bear was almost an adult, so he wasn’t scared of Coco’s mean glare and thought the Twins were harmless. If one of the dogs pissed off Bear, he would let them know by attacking him. One fight was so bad that poor Coco had to get stitches on his ear cause it was ripped up.

Bear slept in my room cause the other dogs wouldn’t let him in my Mom’s. Because of that bond of sleeping with me, Bear trusted me completely. He’s very head sensitive and doesn’t like other people touching him on his head, but he’ll gladly let me. I soon came to think of Bear as my dog.

As typical with the Beagle breed, Coco developed a heart condition. His heart was basically swelling in size. The night Coco died my Dad and I was watching The Perfect Storm (to this day, I cannot watch that movie). Coco kept whining to come up on the couch. I picked him up and put him behind me. I looked back a moment later, and he was gone. It looked like he was sleeping, but he was no longer breathing. My heart broke. My little Butterball left me. We laid him down on the floor, and I cried lying right next to him, holding him close to my heart. My proud Beagle with the chicken chest was gone.

The house seemed so quiet without Coco there, even though we still had 3 dogs. Coco was the ringleader of the group. The one to stir the others into a barking frenzy. A few years after that, it was Brownie’s turn to go. My quiet shy little guy had kidney failure. We tried everything we could to stop him from fading away, even giving him dialysis treatments to help his kidneys work properly. It wasn’t working. All of our dogs are great eaters and tend to be on the heavy side, and Brownie was wasting away to nothing. We knew we couldn’t keep torturing him like this. We were just being selfish. Out of the Puppies, I’ve always favored Brownie. Pepper was a Mama’s boy and always followed my Mom around. But Brownie loved me. Even as an adult, he still loved to climb into my lap to take a nap or to just be petted. He would sit in my lap look up at me and then smile. I spent my last day with Brownie letting him sleep one last time in my lap. At the vet’s office, when the Dr. injected Brownie it happened instantly. My baby boy with the beautiful brown eyes was meeting his hero Coco again. I was devastated. I always thought that the Twins would grow old together and now poor Puppy was all by himself.

So now my household is down to two dogs. Its Fat Dog (Pepper) and Broken Dog (Bear) as I like to fondly call them. You can see the age showing on both of them. Especially Fat Dog. He has blossomed to 50 pounds and let me remind you that he is supposed to be a small sized dog. And in his old age he’s even more attached to my Mom, even whining for her when she’s outside and he’s in. Bear still loves to play hide and seek with me and giving me smooches on demand. I have loved these dogs with all my heart and will continue to do so even when they are all gone. To this day I still have dreams about OC, Coco and Brownie. I feel like it’s my way of keeping them close to me and in each dream I’m so happy to get to see them one more time. I am truly lucky to have had them in my life and I will cherish my memories of them.