Chloe the Dog

 

We had to say goodbye to my office companion of the last 10 years. A runaway picked up by a local shelter, I knew as soon as I saw her she’d be mine.

They told me she was house broken…then she peed in the car on the way home. House broken…car broken…semantics. But she was a keeper from the very start. I guess that’s what happens when a dog pees in your car and gets away with it. 

She was a climber and a chewer. High energy. But I noticed she was skittish at times…like when I brought the paper in from outside…skittish enough to make me wonder if she was abused before she ran away and was picked up by the shelter. 

Her name was “Tootsie” at the shelter, but I could name her whatever I wanted, so Chloe it was. We’ll never know her original name. We’ll never know anything for sure about her first 6 months…except she escaped it. And she landed with me. And we were good for each other.

We were a team. She’d chew my stuff and I’d buy new stuff. She’d eat and sleep for free and I’d buy her food and new beds. I think she chewed through her first 8 beds. Maybe it was 9. Doesn’t matter. I’d’ve bought her a 10th if it came to that. That’s what you do with a dog you love. 

After a couple years she settled down to focus on her career. She was a lifelong pursuer of squirrels. She studied them daily. She mapped and plotted relentlessly. She’d run zoomies in the house as if in training. She only caught a squirrel once, but when she adjusted her grip, it escaped. As time went on she chased less and eventually settled for watching squirrel-vision from the comfort of the back deck. 

Her health problems befuddled me. Surgeries mounted. Vet bills? Kind of don’t remember how much. Honestly. That’s really not so much the point. But when her body is done…it’s done.

I’m saying goodbye..but I won’t have a chance to forget. I’m pretty sure her hair will be in my truck until the day my truck dies. And those smudge marks on the window… I just might leave them there for a while as well.