Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one is a life diminished.
~Dean Koontz
Losing Corky was difficult. As I mentioned yesterday, his passing came at the end of a particularly difficult period in our lives. But, life goes on, and with two teenagers in the house, I couldn’t sit and grieve all day. I had to keep moving forward.
Kasey
A short time after Corky’s death, Mike and I went to look at puppies. For the first time in years, I saw a Welsh Terrier. The poor little thing had a cast on her broken paw (signed, no less, by Madonna, Elvis, and other great performers). She was sharing a cage with a basenji whom she batted repeatedly with her paw as they each pulled on a side of rope. I loved her spunk. I didn’t love that the gal told me they would probably have to get rid of her because of the paw.
I was quiet on the way home, and Mike broke the silence. “Do you want to see if they’ll sell you that puppy? Go back tomorrow and offer them $500 cash.” I don’t remember how much they had her marked, but it was at least double that if not triple. “All they can say is no,” he continued.
As soon as the place opened the next day, I was there. My little Welsh Terrier, however, was not. I turned to look at the manager. “The Welsh….” I cried as tears poured down my cheeks.
“Oh, honey,” the manager exclaimed as she hurried up to me, “she’s at the vet getting her cast removed. She’ll be back in an hour.” Through my sobs, I offered her the $500. I don’t quite remember if she had to call the owner or not, but eventually she answered me. “Come back in an hour or so. She’s yours.”
It had been 12 years since we had had a puppy in the house, and Kasey was a hoot. More than once she found Catarina’s errant underwear and brought it downstairs. She had a little cow-ee toy that she would walk around the house, going from room-to-room repeatedly. This is the living room. We’re not allowed on this furniture….And this is the dining room. We only eat in here if we have company…The kitchen is our favorite room because sometimes food falls and we get to eat it…And this is Dad in the family room. He’s watching TV so don’t disturb him…
Internet “lists” were popular in 1995, and adopting Kasey was the impetus for me to join Welsh-L, a chat of sorts between owners, breeders, and lovers of Welsh Terriers. Through it, I learned more about the breed, and I met Judith Anspach, owner and breeder of MerryLegs Welsh Terriers.
Decker
Being on that list was probably dangerous for me as I somehow got it into my head that I wanted to show a Welsh Terrier. It didn’t matter that I knew nothing about them; I could learn fast. I needed a show-quality dog, though, as Kasey was a puppy mill rescue and definitely not show material.
Judy’s female Welsh had a litter, and Judy had a male that she was willing to co-own with me. We agreed on the specifics, and iI was suddenly on my way to owning two Welsh Terrier puppies. We had moved to Nashville by that time, and Judy was in Albuquerque. A few weeks later, she put the little guy on a direct flight, and I headed to the airport to pick him up.
I knew that I wanted the puppy’s call name to be Decker, but I had to choose his AKC registered name. Anyone who knew the call name made suggestions: MerryLegs Hit the Deck (No)…. MerryLegs Full Deck (No)…MerryLegs Deck the Halls (No) MerryLegs You’re on Deck (No)….MerryLegs Deck of Cards (Nope)…MerryLegs Poop Deck (NEVER!)
There’s a long story as to how and why I chose Decker’s registered name. Suffice to say that I wanted to name him MerryLegs Black and Decker, and that’s how we registered him.
Having two terrier puppies in the house was interesting, to say the least. As hard-headed as terriers can be, they are wickedly smart. K and D were easy to potty train, and they loved chasing each other around the house. It was interesting to watch as Decker grew to be larger that he would catch up with Kasey and try to knock her into a wall.
I did learn quickly that showing a dog was not as easy as it looks. Decker and I went to classes, and neither of us did well. I was probably too nervous, and Decker was too interested in chewing up a small Maltese that was in the class. In the end, Decker got his championship, but it was with handlers other than yours truly.
When I opened my store in 1998, I would take both dogs with me at times. On Saturdays, though, Decker always got to come alone. He enjoyed being in the classroom while ladies learned to make cards or jewelry or scrapbook pages. I had to always warn the women not to leave their purses on the floor because Decker was not afraid to stick his head in them looking for food.
There are a lot of positive reasons to have two dogs of roughly the same age in your house. They play together. They keep each other company. They give double the affection. That said, there is one big negative: The likelihood of their passing away close to each other is great.
That is, unfortunately, what happened with Kasey and Decker. Not long after we moved back to Las Vegas in 2009, Decker was diagnosed with lymphoma. He passed about a week later. Kasey lived another eight months.
Riley
After Decker passed, my good friend, Judy, put me in touch with breeders in Sarasota who had Welsh Terrier puppies available. I flew from Las Vegas to Ft. Myers, and Jason drove me to Sarasota to look at the puppies.
Caren and Matt welcomed us in and let the mom and her puppies out. They all ran up and onto an oversized ottoman. One knocked his brother out of the way, ran over and jumped on my lap, kissed my chin, and tried to chew my hair. He then collapsed on my lap and snapped at the other puppies who came near me. “I think he picked you,” Jason laughed. I guessed he did because an hour later, we headed back to Ft. Myers with a little dude on my lap.
If you know me or are Facebook friends or Instagram followers with me you’ve learned about Seaplume Life of Riley (Riley aka Little Dude aka Mr. Steak and Cake) over the last 16 years. Mike and I still laugh about some of his antics…. stealing prosciutto from the kitchen counter…. licking icing off of a friend’s birthday cake… chomping cherry tomatoes off of the tomato plant I finally got to grow… cornering a roadrunner in our screened in porch… sticking his head in any gift bag that crossed our doorstep…
It’s been seven months, and I still have a hard time talking about him. We’ve come to our house in London, Ohio, today, and Riley’s old bed and a bag of food were still here. It still hurts.
I’ve never been this long without a dog. Maybe it’s time…
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