Puppy Love

Anyone that knows me will tell you that I am a big animal lover, dogs more so than any other animal.  This is actually more than a little surprising since as a child I was deathly afraid of dogs.  My family never owned dogs when I was little, but my grandmother in the country maintained a small pack.  When visiting my granny my Uncle CV would have carry me from the car to the house and repeat the ritual when we were ready to leave.  Forays into my granny’s yard were done either from the vantage point of an uncle’s shoulders or while maintaining a vice grip on my granny’s or grandpa’s leg. Even as I grew older and got bigger I was still always afraid of dogs, a situation not mollified when my hairdresser’s dog bit me in the ass (that’s a whole nother story).

My fear of dogs only began to change when my mother got me my very own puppy, Milo.  Milo was my very first dog for whom I loved and cared.  When she passed away in early 1997 I was devastated.  My boyfriend at the time in an attempt to help get over the loss of Milo took me on a search to get a new puppy.  Our first stop was the JSPCA, we were looking around the kennels but I was not seeing any puppies, then I noticed and sandy coloured pup with huge eyes peering at me from his kennel.  It was love at first sight, the only puppy in the place, he was meant to be mine!!  That was the day I took my Pupstar home.

On December 14^th2011, at the Animal Care Veterinary Clinic I signed a piece of paper authorizing the vet to put my beloved Pupstar to sleep.   So many years had passed; I could not at that moment imagine him not being a part of my life.  I can only smile at the memories of my life with Pupstar.  I can’t count the many pairs of shoes which met their untimely demise as Pupstar used my shoes to cut his teeth.  Nor can I recall the countless nights I opened my bed room door to his “knocks” to have him plop down on my rug and go to sleep.  I still feel the joy of coming home, whether from vacation or just a day at work and having Pupstar behave like I had been gone a lifetime and he was so excited to see me.  Rushing to the door or gate tail wagging at a mile a minute and ears flopping in the breeze.  So many nights he was my company when I was at home alone, my constant companion.  Friends have often heard me say, the only thing I don’t like about living alone is that I do not get to have my dogs with me.  Saying good bye to him that day is without question one of the most difficult things that I have ever had to do.  That however was the choice that was made out of pure love, after all those years I would not have him live the last of it in pain and suffering.  I will grieve for Pupstar as I would for any family member of mine, he was just that, my family.

RIP Pupstar Coke 1997 – 2011 … I will always love you!!