Lady the Dog

Our little family experienced our first loss this past week. Our beagle Lady passed away.

It was not completely unexpected. After all, Lady was no spring chicken. Her fur that was once brown had changed to white. Nearly all her teeth were gone. There were days when she couldn’t walk so well and periods of incontinence…the older Lady got, the more paper towels we used.

However, the loss of our little Lady was still shocking. Your mind knows it’s inevitable, but the heart never quite accepts it. Hope springs eternal and I had hoped in my heart that Lady would live forever.

Lady has been with me and Richard from the beginning – through our courtship, our engagement, our marriage, and our journey into parenthood. She moved with us from Richard’s bachelor pad to our first apartment together in Philadelphia to our first home in the New Jersey suburbs. She’s shared every mundane daily task with us and every momentous occasion. Together we shared countless road trips, dinners around the coffee table, and naps on the couch (lots and lots of naps…Lady loved to sleep). She was a constant companion, there to keep me company when Richard was away on a work trip. She was a furry shoulder to cry on and a warm blanket to cuddle with on a cold winter’s night.

Lady was not a perfect dog. She was stubborn. She’d pick a bowl of food over me any day. She suffered from separation anxiety when Richard was out of her sight and nothing could stop her barking and whimpering until he came back. Lady’s internal clock was remarkable; at precisely 5:00pm she knew it was dinner time and wouldn’t stop begging for food until dinner was served. Despite being a rather small dog, she somehow managed to take up the entire couch and bed. She was the world’s worst walker, stopping to smell everything. Instead of walking Lady, we ended up dragging her.

But Lady was perfect for us. She was calm and cuddly. She could stay in her crate all day while we were working, fast asleep. She was low-maintenance, easy to travel with. She was never bothered by other people and other pets. She was very complacent and usually sleepy. Because of her constantly semi-unconscious state, she was the ideal dog for Halloween – I’ve never met another dog that was so easy to put in a costume. She was smart and followed directions from Richard obediently. Richard would say “Go lie down, Lady” and off she would go to lie in her chair. I liked to compare her to other animals – her eyes reminded me of a seal and her short legs and stocky body reminded me of Donkey from Shrek. Her lackluster disposition always made me think of Eeyore. I’m sure if she could’ve talked, they would have sounded exactly alike. Most importantly, Lady was a great listener. She really truly looked at you when you talked. (And, yes, I did talk to her. Frequently.) I knew she understood me.

She was a good dog.

Everyone knows that pets are friends. But every pet owner knows that they are truly so much more than that. Lady was our first kid. She was family. We picked up her poop, wiped her butt when she couldn’t clean herself, and comforted her during thunderstorms. We even paid big bucks to get her back when she was held ransom by a bum in West Philly (long story). Regardless of all we did for Lady, she did far more for us. She gave us her unconditional love and adoration, a kind of love that only a pet can give.

My dad says that the only thing bad about dogs is that we live longer than them. We shared so much with Lady…I only wish we could share many, many more years together.

The morning after Lady passed away, I went to work at my town library. The first book that I checked in that morning was the children’s book “Doggie Heaven.” When I saw the book, my eyes filled with tears and I knew in that moment that Lady is waiting for us in a better place. One day we will be reunited and cross the Rainbow Bridge together…