It's a Dog's World

Our family dog, Tiffany, has to be the greatest dog that ever lived. I am not being bias, I am telling you, she really is the greatest dog and if you had a chance to meet her you would think so... okay, maybe not at this stage in her life but a year or so back. Beautiful German Shepherd/Labrador with massive brown eyes.

Her gray chin gives away the fact that she's old. Very, very old. In human years, seventeen years and six months old. We picked her up at out local pet store when she was 3 months old for my brother Peter. He had a crush on a girl at the time, Tiffany. So, there wasn't much of an issue in choosing a name for his dog. He "loved" his crush and he loved his new puppy, easy choosing. She was such a sweet girl, we're onto the dog now, with these big brown soulful eyes; we fell in love with her and claimed her as ours. Except for when she pooped relieved herself in the house, then she became Peter's dog. I am told that I had nightmares of her not making it to the bathroom, where we kept her while she was a tiny puppy, or outside to do her thing. She would sniff around and this would signal us to, "Get her out! Get her out!". Apparently I woke up in the middle of the night yelling, "She's sniffing around! She's sniffing around!!". Did I ever mention that I talk in my sleep? That's another post for another day.

We got another dog years later for my younger brother David, Misty. This dog HAD to be from Hades another world. She was spunky and a little mean. Or so we thought. She would conspire with Tiffany and talk her into breaking out and taking a road trip. One night during a horrific thunder storm we went out to find the gate busted and the "girls" gone. I am sorry to say that we were more concerned with what happened to Tiff than Misty. We KNEW that Misty was behind this, the dog from Hades another world. We scoured the neighborhoods and soon received a phone call. A lady on another street took them in during the storm, did we want to pick them up? We'll pick Tiffany up. We ended up coming home with both girls and having to leash Misty, the dog from Hades another world. It wasn't long after that incident that we received a call from our elderly neighbor, her daughter had cancer and didn't have very long to live and Misty was causing her to lose sleep. See, I told you, Dog from... yah you know. Not only did she howl and bark all night she would shimmy her way under the house and take apart the heater ducts and who knows what else. We took Misty to the pound and was told later on that she was in fact mentally retarded and not a dog from hades another world. Poor Misty.

Today Tiffany is very old, she could use a walker and maybe a few depends. That just sparked another thought, when she was in her baby bearing age she was not allowed to come in the house without something to cover her up... this may be TMI for some. I warned you. This covering up required an old pair of her owners underwear wrapped around so that she kept our carpets clean. TMI? okay then. She was just like a human... sort of.

The past few weeks have been really tough on her. She is like a stubborn old lady that refuses to listen to direction. She pushes, literally, until she gets her way and relieves herself wherever and whenever. This is from a dog who would get embarrassed if you saw her doing her thing on the grass. Now she can't help it. Soon she will be gone and that may be one the hardest things, she's been our family for more than half my life.

She still is the greatest dog alive.