ONCE SHE WAS SO LIVELY

She lays in her little spot for most of the day. She doesn’t take up much room, and for the most part sleeps. She can hardly move about, she’s lived long past her allotted time. I like to think it is because I take care of her, that she knows I love her, and that no matter how angry she can make me at times, I will still do what she needs me to do.

Once upon a time, she was so lively, so filled with energy and vitality, I couldn’t keep up with her. Oh, she had her little tricks that she employed to win me over, and was not afraid to use them.



I often found myself dumb-founded at just how intelligent she was, and to this day, she hasn’t lost a thing. She can figure things out pretty quickly, but she knows who’s in charge. She is of course.

She has her little idiosyncrasies, and probably they make her what she is. I tell people about some of them, and they shake their heads in disbelief. But she is loyal, so very loyal, and so very beautiful, that even in her old age, she remains as pretty as the first day she entered my household.



She adopted the whole family, before we adopted her. She made us all love her, and we all knew how we stood with her, as she built relationships that were individualized for each of us. She knew she had to treat each of us differently, because we each had different needs.

At the end of the day, you knew your bounds and she established hers.

Now, my little dog, my little cocker spaniel can hardly move, hardly picks up her head sometimes. And she sleeps so soundly, I have to check on her to see if she is still breathing, her fuzzy little body sometimes curled up in a ball.



There are days she absolutely drives me mad. Those days are when she makes countless trips outside to do her business. I want to toss her out the door, but I know she is getting on in years, she can’t control herself as well as she used to. So I lose my anger, and feel guilty then sadness for her.

Every morning when I come down from my shower, I march to the coffee pot, and I look down and there she is, sniffing my pants and shoes, greeting me for the new day! She does it in a quiet dignified fashion, and I talk to her, even though she can’t hear me. She used to come over to my chair while I reclined in it, with my shoes off and just my socks on my feet, and pull the socks off!

She has trained me to give her lettuce at 4:30 in the afternoon, rain or shine, EST or DST, at 4:30 she wants her lettuce. If I forget, she will trick me into getting up then she will lead me into the kitchen to the refrigerator! How? By going to the back door, and with her paw swiping the bell that hangs for her convenience, that’s how.

I know her day is coming, and it is coming soon! I know I have to expect it, but I won’t like it. She is a good, loyal companion. There will not be another dog in the house. There is only room for one special memory, and that belongs all to Happy.