Marley & Me

I really didn't think this book would apply to me. I have not had a dog ever growing up. I like other peoples dogs, kind of. My family would not describe me as an animal lover, more of an animal torturer. They can tell you stories from my youth as the time I turned their cat neurotic, or the time I tried to walk the cat around the block using nylons on the head as a leash. It did not really work, but was the most hilarious thing my 10-year old mind had ever seen. A cat unable to see with nylons on its head streaking through the neighborhood.

There were parts I related to though. The raising of children. Seeing things through another's eyes and the depression brought on by having babies.

I have never had a dog of my own to love. But there is one dog (sorry, A&T) that holds a special place in my heart. C.B. Was her name. Short for SeaBiscuit. Named after the horse. She was my cousins dachshund. This is the closest I have come to dog love. We have tried several times to replace her and there is no way to do so.

When my cousins would go on vacation, they would bring C.B. over to our house to stay. I was the one she loved to sleep with. I would wake up in the morning with a long warm body burrowed under my covers and wrapped around my feet.

When you would talk to her, she would tilt her head to one side and furrow her brow like she was trying to hard to let you know she understood.

She loved us and we all loved her. My brother has a wiener dog now, Frankie, who looks so much like C.B., but she is still a puppy. We never knew C.B. as a puppy. But we sure liked to get her excited. We would talk about going outside. Do you wanna go outside! Do you wanna go outside! Do you wanna go outside! She would start dancing by the front door. We would do this with almost anything. Talking excitedly to get her prancing. She was our constant companion. Following us everywhere. Nuzzling us at night. The sweetest, most loving dog I have known.

I remember when she started to get old. Her hair started to turn gray. She got cancer lumps on her body. She eventually stopped going up and down the stairs and my aunt had to take her up or down with her. She could not stand to go potty. Someone had to hold her. I think that we did not want to let her go. No one wanted to face the fact that she was going to leave us soon. And how could we want her to leave us? She had been with us through the years. It is hard to let go of something that has been with you as you grow from child to adult. A constant in your changing world.

I remember when she died. I was in college. My mom called to let me know. We cried. My aunts family buried her in their backyard. She would have loved my baby. She would have wanted to pick him up by the scruff of his neck and put him in her bed. She would have licked him until he cried out for her to quit.

I still miss her. It has been about 10 years. I rarely understand the connection between animal and man. This book reminded me that I have felt it before. And that there are so many others who feel it too.

And then there is this. The blog of my friend Natalie's dog. World meet Boogie. I don't know if there is any more potent way of showing the love you have for your animal.