In memory of My Chi Chi, my friend and companion
It’s difficult to sum up 12 years of joy with my dog, but it’s important for me to share how important my dog was to me. I didn’t know what love at first sight was until I met my sweet pom puppy Chi chi. When we first met she was not even weaned from her mom and when I picked her up to have a closer look at her, she licked my nose and that was it, I knew that she had claimed me and that she was my dog. I should have called her Shadow, not because she was black, but because she liked to be in whatever room I was in, even to the point where she would sit on my feet. I was her world and I adored her and she adored me too.
When I would come home, she would dance out of joy in circles for me, it was like coming home to a party every day. By the time she was two, she knew at least 16 tricks from praying, crying to ballet kicks to even playing dead, such a ham. But she only liked to do these tricks for me, when there was an audience, she would often just cock her head and pretend she had no idea what I wanted her to do. I would often refer to her as the Warner Brothers cartoon frog who would only sing Hello my baby without an audience. But I was happy to be her biggest fan.
She was such a love bug and loved to sit on my lap and give me lots of kisses and sit on my lap and have belly rubs until my arm was tired but I didn’t mind, her fur was so soft and she would often fall asleep and snort and snore like a big bull dog instead of the petite girl she was.
Her favorite thing to do was to go walking the trail and river by my house and let the wind blow through her long silky hair, people on the trail would always remark what a beautiful dog she was. If they would try to pet her, she would usually allow a pat or two and then pull me down the trail, she never liked to stand around, she liked to keep moving and would bark at me to keep up with her.
Her next favorite thing was to wake me up in the early am to let her out so she could tear off the back porch and chase the squirrels up my cherry tree. She never did catch one and I have not idea what she would have done with one if she had, but she always was so proud that she “cleared” the yard of all the pesky varmints which also included the mailman and yardboy. She always came back and expected a treat or two for her services. Chi chi was not lacking in the personality department.
As she got older, she experienced some serious health issues including IVDD disk surgery and several bouts of pancreatitis. She pulled through all of that with flying colors, such a scrappy dog. But last August she had several grand mal seizures in one day, she was going through renal failure. She was a trooper throughout all the drugs and subq fluid therapy over these past few months, but towards the end, she no longer enjoyed her food, and she was such a piggy I knew that we were getting close when food no longer gave her joy.
Once she stopped eating completely and could not be tempted, she grew weaker and started finding places to hide instead of greeting me with dancing and kisses. I knew that it was time to call Compassionate Care. Dr. Jessica was so kind and made sure that we were not rushed. Once she administered the sedative, Chi chi relaxed completely in my arms and started to snore and snort. I realized that I had not heard her funny snoring in several weeks and that she had not been sleeping comfortably, I took this as a sign that I was doing the right thing, that all I really wanted was her to not be in pain any longer.
Letting her go was so much harder than I thought, but I really love her so much and it felt like the right thing to do. I miss her so much, I will never have a dog as special as my Chi Chi. RIP 10/11/03 – 3/2/16
Trish Nolan
Vancouver, WA
