Affinity for Poodles

Originally I was going to write about a burial I had this morning with my boys for a worm Talin had stepped on. But it ended up with me talking about my love of animals and how Talin seems to have that same love. He insisted on giving the worm a burial, so I scraped off the worms remains from the bottom of his shoe and we dug a little hole with a stick. The worm is buried, and I’m still reminiscing about how many times I have loved and lost animal friends in my life.
The first love I had was a little poodle named Shadow. I couldn’t have been more than four years old, but I still remember sitting in the room they have at pet shops with my father and this little black fur ball of a puppy jumping around like crazy. After playing with him he snuggled up on my fathers lap and slept. My father is a sucker for animals as well, and that sealed the deal. He was purchased and given to my mother for Christmas, who was not thrilled. I remember later on that day Cyndee told me that Shadow could be mine. I was thrilled, and considered him my dog from that time on. He was a pure bred silver toy poodle and I fell in love with him. He grew up with me and when I was sixteen years old it was decided that he should go live with some elderly neighbors who loved him and would respect his old age more than we would. I never said good bye to him and cried a good deal because of that. It was a bitter goodbye on my end, or lack of goodbye.
Mourning the loss of my best friend and companion, I moped around and begged my father for a new puppy. He’s a sucker for animals and it was decided that we would go and look at some silver toy poodles at a breeder’s home. It was love at first site. Seth was brought home that night, and proved to be quite the spaz. During his short life he had a lot of adventures. Once while camping he jumped out the window while I was driving along a dirt road. Turning around and realizing that my puppy was gone; I turned the car around and went to find him. A quarter of a mile back, and there he was, running down the middle of the road on three legs, the fourth one dangling uselessly. $1,000 later, out of my own pocket, the leg was fixed. Geesh, I loved that dog! He was a little dog who lived like a big dog, which was the cause of his death later on. Kicked by one of our horses his little life ended quickly. My father was there, and my mother told me that he was so upset that he threw all the furniture off the back porch and into the yard, then went and sat on my bed and cried. When I was brought home to my lifeless dog, I held his little body on our back porch and sobbed. My siblings sat with me and mourned, and Tyler built a coffin to lay him in. It was a sad goodbye.
After the loss of Seth, I was married a few months later. Tom and I were smitten with one another. One day in a pet store, looking at some white poodles, I was unimpressed. I wanted a silver poodle; I had to have a silver poodle in my life. We were ready to walk out the door when she pranced in from the back room, full of energy and life. I was in love once again, my next puppy, Oriana. Being a smitten husband, Tom was easily convinced to pay six hundred dollars for her. She came home with us that day and awhile later we had Talin and decided to move to Flagstaff for school. Dogs were not allowed on our new campus shoebox we were to call home, so I had to give her up. I sobbed and sobbed when someone bought her. It was painful. But I said goodbye and moved on, only to call her new owners a few years later to see how she was doing, and to my surprised they offered her back to me. Too much energy I guess. I didn’t hesitate, we had a new pet friendly apartment, and I took her back. Having her in my life the second time was bittersweet. She remembered me and we loved each other once again, but I had a baby now and I was ready to deliver another baby in a few months. My time and attention were not devoted entirely to her like she remembered. She needed more from me than what I could give at that time, and the bitterness began. She began to do naughty things on purpose, and me with my short fuse and big belly couldn’t keep up. I sold her. It was a sigh of relief when I said goodbye, and it was the last time I owned a poodle in my life.
It seems that for the first time in my life I don’t need to have a puppy to fill any voids. I will always love animals, and still dream of owning a ranch someday with lots of animals roaming it. But the next puppy can wait awhile. I’m just thrilled to have a little boy who has a tender heart and reminds me of myself at that age.