The Life of Dogs: Vala
The tragedy about dogs is they don’t live long enough.
I’m on vacation!! So instead of my weekly sermon is a dog story…
When my kids were in elementary school they wanted a dog. Of course they did, every kid wants a dog. We had only had cats but finding out that we were all allergic left us with fish and nothing to cuddle. So, off I went to procure a dog. I didn’t know how to get one though. I had never thought of looking. The first cat I had was from a flea market and the second from a pet store before we were all informed how horrible it was to buy a pet from a ‘store’.
I asked around… A friend had a neighbor that had puppies, and one was left. So off we went family in tow to meet this puppy. The woman with the mother was just giving them away because her pure bred Shiba I
nu had been sullied by a Jack Russell. I hadn’t even heard of a Shiba Inu let alone seen one. She was as cute as could be with perked up ears that stood erect and a fluffy tail that curled right up. This one was flawed the woman explained, she has a snaggle tooth right up in her top teeth. It never got in the way of her health or looks so we never bothered to worry about it. It just made her more unique. The woman wanted to give us the mom too because she was now sullied.
We only took Vala home, we had not wanted more than one. Then the trip to the vet for fixing… then off to the pet store. Dogs are expensive….
I got her for my husband to go on walks with her. I was told by my kids they would take care of her. Nope. I potty trained her, walked her, fed her, cleaned up after her, and then she was attached to me. Wherever I went there just behind was a fluffy little shadow. A cute little puff of hair and precious-moment sad eyes. When I sat, a curled-up dog appeared right in my lap. But then after 10 minutes or so off she went to seek out new adventures.
We had a sliding glass door and as we were trying not to have accidents in the house that meant I was up and down all day. She wants in, she wants out, she wants in, she wants out. There was always something new to chase or smell. Then one time I watched her as she found a pot in the back of the yard full of dirt. It had rained earlier. She pushed herself up to see inside. I saw her little head bobbing about as she sniffed. Then over the top and into the pot she went! I stood up to get a better look. I opened the door and called her name, “Vala”! She popped right out covered in mud and headed straight for me… I closed the door as fast as I could. She stopped with a quizzical look. “You called me?” she seemed to say. “Your covered in mud! No.”
If a dog could have shrugged I think she would have. She ran back into the yard and I resigned myself to the fact I would have to bathe her today. I sat down to gather my strength. If you have never had a Shiba or a Jack Russel or some other high energy dog you may never have heard of the zoomies. Simply put, zoomies or as we said cracker puppy is a dog just running around like a crazy person wildly flying through the grass. Which is what she did next. She spun and rolled and looked like she was the freest animal on the planet. Sheer joy and energy. I went to do something and then turned back to the door because I heard her on the deck. She was clean. Not a speck of dirt or mud on her. I stood there in shock. She patiently waited as if she completely understood she could not come in unless she was clean, so she went ahead and saved me the trouble of bathing her. In she trotted with her rueful smile.
She also got the zoomies in the house. But inside they were more contained and involved avidly chasing her tail round and round in a tight ball. When she caught it she just spun even tighter until her inertia slowed down as her paws were off the floor and she rolled in a ball of fur and tail. We tried to catch it on video but that was extra hard. It was as if she were a movie star and we were the paparazzi. Or maybe she thought the camera would steal her soul. She froze whenever we got our phones out. We managed a few photos.
Kids and dogs are interesting especially when both are mischievous. It was definitely my mistake for taking a nap… I rolled over to silence. That is never good when you have twin sons who are on their own, little pranksters. I came down to the dog covered in syrup, rice, salt, and pepper. Vala was running around happy as can be getting everything sticky in her wake. The couch, carpet, and even the walls at her height (think shin height). I asked why in the world they had done this. “We made salsa mom”. I cringed to think of all that on a tortilla chip. I called my mom who lived right behind me to take them quickly. It took a lot of dawn and time, but I got her de-stickiefied along with the house.
The next-door neighbor got a dog too. Wolf was a medium size Shepherd or Husky mix. They would run the fence up and down both happy as clams. Then Wolf figured out he could dig into our yard. He would visit on occasion, and they would run around and when Vala was done with the date, she would come in the dog door we now had, sit down in the entry and watch him. Then Wolf decided to go further one day and dug out of our yard into the next without a fence. So of course, Vala had to go too. She loved to escape and now she knew how!
We filled the hole, we put extra wire, but nothing seemed to fix it. Then we got a low energy electric fence. The first time she yelped and ran inside looking outside like a bee was after her. The second time she yelped again and ran in and under my feet. Two was enough for her and she never tried to dig her way out again. Back to happy visits but now Wolf also was trapped, and we’d have to get him back home before he broke our little princess’ curfew.
Several years down the line we moved. We moved south to a house with a similar fence but all the neighbors on each side were fenced. She still managed to get out if you held the door open one second too long. She had always done that. In the old house she ran around to all the yards with dogs to ‘visit’. Maybe she mocked them for being fenced in while she was free? Maybe she was gloating? Maybe she was looking for Mr. Right? I just know it was like chasing a bullet train that stops for that split second then speeds off way too fast to catch. The saving grace was that she always got tired after 15 minutes and came home. Her ear-to-ear grin of smug adventurous triumph firmly plastered on her face. And I with my annoyed eye roll.
Fortunately, in the new neighborhood she still always came back. She just could not resist the great outdoors. The sense of wild free romps. And we stopped chasing her. We would just wait 15 and open the door calling her in. She always had that same smile a mile wide from ear to ear. Until one time when it was pouring rain and I could not resist the prank. I opened the door wide and out into the storm she ran. Got down the front steps and stopped dead. She looked up and around then ran right back in. This time she had that perturbed look like when your lips squish together and down. You know the one.
We noticed at the new house she seemed to be sad. My parents hadn’t moved into the in-law-suite being built yet and there was no dog on either side. NOW I HAVE TO GET ANOTHER DOG FOR MY DOG!!??? Ugh. I had no idea that she would miss Wolf and his antics that much. When my parents finally moved in she seemed happy that they were there but was still not her old spinning tail chasing self. So, dog number two I guess.
Our next dog is our sweet lovey Nova. A Black Lab mix from the shelter that had come in pregnant and heartworm positive. She watched as all of her pups were adopted from the kennel next to hers. She looked forlorn and my husband was hooked. We got her home and let them meet. They were fast friends, and it helped Vala regain her playful spirit. She tried hard to play with Nova while Nova respectfully watched Vala do the play paws and poke and then Nova just licked Vala square in the face. It was adorable and a mark of the gentle soul that Nova is.
With our crew healthy and happy we ventured out to parks and such. Vala her old little demon self. She growled to play and barked furiously when you leave the house like you have just insulted her with a ‘your mother…’ joke. She used to take the boys’ underwear and socks into the yard and play catch all by herself with the items. She would hurl them in the air and run and catch them then repeat. She loved my dad and begged relentlessly at the table. Each spring she would shed in clumps that came right off her back haunches that we jokingly referred to as her butt plugs. After you pulled all the plugs and extra hair off you could make a whole new dog. She followed me everywhere. In the morning, she needed me to pick her up so she could snuggle into my neck and hug even though it was only for a few minutes before she wanted to get down. I will never forget being poked anytime you were eating, or she wanted some attention. A little bop with her cold wet nose to your leg or thigh. I was glad to have had her in my life for 14 years despite that almost to the end she was set on escaping for that 15-minute fan tour around the neighborhood. The tragedy about dogs is they don’t live long enough.