Losing a Pet, Losing a Friend

My cousin, Wendy Jo, contacted me this morning to let me know that she and her husband Randy had lost their pet rabbit during the night.  They were pretty upset.  It is amazing how close we can get to an animal, even though we don't speak their language or have the same needs, wants or perhaps even lives.  The parts we share can really bind our hearts together.  So Wendy & Randy our thoughts are with you.

Ken is always the one in our family that does not want to have an animal as just a pet, and yet Ken is usually the one that draws the closest to them.  Wendy's news reminded me of one particular pet that we lost a few years ago, Waddle.  Waddle was a black and silver dappled miniature dachshund.  He was miniature in size but had maximum personality! 

Here's part of what he was to our family:

Babysitter:  At the time my nephew Tyler was living with us.  He was under 2 years old.  If ANY visitor came to our house and picked up Tyler, Waddle went crazy.  He did not trust anyone, outside of our family to pick up the baby.  At bedtime, we would all gather in the living room and say our prayers as a family.  At the end of prayers Waddle knew it was time to go to bed.  If Tyler or Ben or Joe stalled on going straight to their bedroom, Waddle would jump and nip them in the butt and run them to bed!  He was better than any cattle dog at herding up the children.

Mouser:  Our house was mouse free, generally, but if one got in it did not stand a chance with Waddle on guard.

"Watch" Dog:  I believe Waddle could tell time.  He knew when the school bus should arrive with the children on board and he would run through the house about five minutes before bus arrival, jump up on an end table in front of the windows and brush the curtain open so he could watch for the children. 

Traveling Companion:  We would take Waddle with us sometime.  But if we left him in the vehicle, it was trouble!  At that time we had a Suburban.  Waddle would sleep on the back of the second seat, where Jonathan sat.  If he woke up and we were out of the vehicle, he would get down into the front seat, raise up on his front paws on the steering wheel and blow the horn.  The first time he did this we were camping.  We thought he would sleep better in the vehicle than in a tent.  We were wrong & at 1:00 in the morning the horn went off!  After he learned to blow the horn, it was over!  He blew it every time we got out, then he would jump back on to the second seat to see if we were coming back for him.  If not, back down to the front he would go and blow the horn again. By the way he slept perfectly in the tent with Jonathan.

Thief:  One of our family favorites at Christmas is chocolate covered cherries.  One year I bought each of the children a box and wrapped them, put them under the tree.  I came home to find a neat pile of paper, plastic, and boxes.  NO CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES!  But we did have a sick little dachshund.  We learned to hide candy, except Jonathan.  He would share his suckers with Waddle.  Jonathan has always been a "sucker" for a sweet dog.

We loved Waddle for many years.  When he died, we lost a lil member of the family...