25 March, 2003...01 February, 2005
25 March, 2003...01 February, 2005
I got Pappy early in May, 2003, when he was just over four weeks old. His name was Pappy because the friend that gave him to me was going to give me a gray pup, so I picked the name Pappy. When he discovered his wife had already given the gray pup away, he gave me this one, so I just gave him the name of Pappy, that being easier than trying to figger out another name. My friend told me Pappy was a longhaired Chihuahua, but it never got real long and he didn't seem to have many other Chihuahua traits.
As I was about to retire, Pappy was going to be my company, and that he was. Constantly. He went with me everywhere, with very few exceptions. He played hard and protected me, in his mind anyway, with ferocity. He hunted and killed gophers around the yard, and chased cottontail rabbits, then one day one turned on him and chased him. He was a bit more careful after that.
I used to think I was a fair trainer of dogs, but Pappy had his own mind early on, and a very short attention span. It was all a game to him, and play was priority unless we were going somewhere.
I lost him today to Parvovirus. Where he came in contact with it, is a mystery of sorts, as he was always close by, and there are no other dogs close by, or any that come near, other than Bro Jim's dog, and he is healthy. The vet told me that he could have picked it up from droppings up to ten years old left by a coyote, or any other dog that had been here in the past. This page for Pappy is just an outlet for my sorrow in losing him, and to let others be made aware of the danger of Parvovirus. No details of the disease are here, as there is plenty of information at other web sites on the internet, so if you care for you dog, and are not aware of Parvo, read about it. It is a deadly disease, but can be prevented.
This is the last photo of Pappy taken late in 2004.
Pappys first photo and his first toy.
In the floorboard of the truck.
Watching the road.
Packing Rawhide.
Let me in, puhleeze...
Happy Hunting Pappy, where ever you are.
The below poem was sent to me by the caring folks at the Lovington Veterinary Clinic.
For here between this world and the next,
is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.
No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
for here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,
their bodies have healed with strength imbued.
They romp through the grass, without even a care,
until one day they start, and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,
then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.
For just at that instant, their eyes have met;
Together again, both person and pet.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past,
the time of their parting is over at last.
The sadness they felt while they were apart,
has turned into joy once more in each heart.
They embrace with a love that will last forever,
an then, side-by-side,
they cross over... together.
Inspired by a Norse legend