Round 2

Yesterday was our puppy's 1st birthday (and if you think 1 year old is no longer a puppy, just leave her in a room alone with your favorite pair of shoes and a piece of pizza for 3 minutes and you'll find out the truth). She has grown so fast. She's super cute, very cuddly, and stubborn as a mule. She knows all her commands but only obeys them when she wants to (i.e. when you have treats).  In the morning when we wake up she is so excited to see us, she wags her butt so hard that sometimes she hits herself in the face with her tail. Her favorite place is my lap, or your lap, really any lap will do. 60lb. lap dog. Yup, that's her. 

Last week I had lunch with a friend whose 10 year old dog had just died. A week later they came home with a new puppy. Sounded awfully familiar. Their 10 year old Chocolate Lab was loved like a child. The pain of losing him was too much to bear. I warned her ahead of time...Don't do it! Don't get a puppy!. I told her to call me in a month so I could say, "I told you so!". She's heard the stories of all the trouble our little monster has gotten into over the past 10 months. "It's a lot of work, make sure you are ready for it.", I told her. We talked about the struggles of losing our best friends. The house was too quiet, there were lots of tears, emptiness, sorrow. We don't realize just how much our pets give to us until they are gone. Needless to say, puppies are a pretty good distraction from all that. They take up a lot of time and energy. And they're pretty cute. I told her when I got our puppy, I wasn't sure I could love it as much, it felt a little like betraying the one that was no longer here. But we move on and do our best. 

That evening, I was telling my daughter about our conversation. I showed her a photo of their new little fuzzy bundle of cuteness. When I told her about the part of our talk where I said it's hard to love the second dog, she looked at me like I was completely insane and matter-of-factly said, "You can love all the dogs in the world if you want." The kid is way smarter than I am. Of course we can. We don't have to pick and choose. We are not limited to loving just one dog, or just one person. Our hearts our designed to love infinitely. There is plenty to go around! 

Puppies can be a handful, that's why they make them so cute. But they grow into kind, loving and loyal companions. They need us and we need them. They teach us that love is unconditional. They wag their tails with joy each time we come home, and snuggle up close with us at night to keep us warm. They make us laugh and are constantly in trouble, but it's all worth it. Every minute. So, Happy Birthday Mazzi. You ARE loved.

(And welcome to the world Max…now go eat your mom's favorite shoe!)

Zaida Gunny Fontanes - Zaidy - March 1 2003 - January 13, 2014

This morning I said good-bye to my beautiful, sweet dog Zaidy. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. She was a light in my life, my constant companion, my only co-worker for the last 10 years. She was my first dog, my baby, my love.

I remember the day I met her. It was a warm sunny day in April, 2003. Early in the morning, my husband picked up the newspaper and said, "Do you want to get a puppy today?" I was in the car waiting before he finished the sentence. We drove out to a farm just north of Denver to look at the first batch of pups. None of the puppies were just right. On our way home, we stopped at another farm. They had 4 chocolate lab puppies that were almost ready to leave their mother. We walked into their pen and 3 of the pups were huddled together in the dog house. The other one ran right up to me and licked my toes (it was a very warm day that day and I was wearing flip flops). I picked her up and the moment I looked in her eyes, I knew she was my girl. A week later she came home with us and she has filled our lives with joy every day since.

Dogs are amazing creatures. They bring so much happiness to our lives. There are so many things I will miss about her. The way she would sneak up on the bed in the middle of the night and "spoon" with me, laying right up against my legs until morning. If we slept too late she would put her head right on the pillows and pant in my face, tail thwapping on the bed loudly until we got up to feed her. For her afternoon meal she would come into my office and stare at me, a long hard stare as if to burn into my brain the words "FEED ME". Then she'd do her little "dinner dance" on the way to the bowl…so excited for the next meal. If I waited too long in the afternoon to feed her, I could make her 'sing' by asking her what it was that she wanted. I will miss her lying under my desk on cold winter days while I work, keeping my toes nice and warm. Right from the start she was protective with Bella, so gentle and so patient, even when she was being ridden like a pony, her tail being pulled or poked in the eye. I will miss seeing my sweet dog and my daughter, cuddled up together on the bed while we read books at night. I will miss her beautiful face greeting me at the door every time I come home, and it will be a hard habit to break not to say "We'll be right back Zaidy" every time I leave. I might just keep saying it anyway. I will miss stepping over her in the kitchen. I swore if she could talk she would pick the winning lottery tickets because she could always predict exactly what I'd be doing in the kitchen before I started, and that's right where she'd lay. I stepped on her so many times, I'm pretty sure she thought her name was 'Sorryzaidy'. I will miss how she bounded up the stairs or to the door when we asked her if she wanted to go for a walk. I will miss her hair all over the house, her stinky dog breath, her nose prints all over the sliding glass door. I will miss everything about her.

So my dear Zaidy, I hope that you are at peace. I hope you had a happy life and I hope you know how much you were loved. You changed our lives forever. You will always be my baby. I will love you and miss you for the rest of the days of my life. You were a good girl.