Dog Blog

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Peaches has been with us 10 years today.  She was 3 1/2 years old when I adopted her.  She's still going strong at age 13 1/2.  It seems like a long time ago, and she's seen me through a lot: the loss of my dear father and two beloved male dogs.  I remember the day Peaches and I met three days after Christmas in 2006. I had signed up for the pet request program at our local SPCA.  I'd already passed up a couple of dogs, which didn't seem like a good fit for one reason or another. After I saw her in the kennel, I was told to wait in the get acquainted room while they brought her to me.  In a few minutes the door opened and in charged a terrified little black and white basset girl. She shot across the room straight for me and promptly sat on my left foot. I had been chosen, claimed. She would be mine and I would be hers from that day onward to this.

She was a beautiful little dog, but what impressed me most was the unusual white marking running the length of her back that looked like one of those Jesus fishes you see on car bumpers. I made up my mind then and there to adopt her.  She was already spayed, so I took her home the same day.  She had been bounced from pillar to post, from the puppy mill she surely came from to a high-kill shelter in Stockton to the Sacramento SPCA. I remember she was so upset on the way to she knew not where that she pooped in the back of my new SUV.  Poor girl was such a nervous, fearful dog.  She still is, though she has mellowed quite a lot from those days when she crab-walked through life, pressing herself as close to the ground as she could.  That and the stripe up her back made her look more like a badger than a dog.

This morning, she came into my bedroom like she always does for pets and to sit on my foot as I get out of bed.  I fed her a special breakfast, and then we took her for a walk at the college Arboretum, where in years past we used to walk her and our sweet Beau, who will be forever missed.  Peaches seems to be doing very well for nearly 14 years of age.  She's been our healthiest dog so far.  Perhaps she'll outlive all our other bassets.  I hope so!

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