Page 11 - ISI_151_AprilMay

APRIL // MAY 2019 • IDAHO SENIOR INDEPENDENT
Fluffy Critters
PET TIPS•BREEDS•CARE•GROOMING
BY AARON PARRETT
Tikky, tikky, tikky…tikky, tikky, tikky.
I never thought I would miss the
sound of my little mini-pinscher’s
toenails tik-tik-tikkying across the
hardwood floor, but after 20 years,
the poor little fellow finally crossed
that rainbow bridge.
Still—20 years! That’s about 140 in
people years.
He had a good life, even if toward
the end he couldn’t get around much
anymore. In fact, several times a day, © TUMSUBIN, BIGSTOCK.COM.
I had to pick him up and set him in the
backyard, so he could do his business. Then
I’d wait around until I heard him bark to be
picked up and brought back in.
He spent most of his final days curled up
in a little ball on the dog bed by the heater
vent, but he was always able to rouse his old
bones into action whenever he sensed a meal.
I would hear him pacing around the
kitchen—tikky-tikky-tikky—and that ritual
grew more somber and sedate the longer
he lingered.
Even when he was not long for this world,
I never realized how much I was going to miss
that rascal’s little nails ticking around the
house. Tito was a rescue dog, sort of.
My wife “rescued” him when someone
abandoned him in her yard one snowy day in
Portland, Ore., about 15 years ago.
She named him after Tito Puente, whose
music was playing on NPR when she brought
him into her home, to join the rest of her
menagerie: two other dogs and three cats.
She eventually came around to call-
ing him Teebershnitzel, Teebers, or Little
Man—whichever suited his personality
of the moment—and he settled in quite
comfortably into his role as top dog of the
furry crew.
All those animals have passed on now,
and Tito was the last reminder of the happy
chaos squeezed into that tiny, 700-square-
foot house.
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Teeberschnitzel
THE LAST LITTLE MAN STANDING
He was always a sweet, little simpleton
and cuter than a speckled puppy.
When he was younger, he’d get the rip-
py-zippies around the dog park like a bottle
rocket, but, toward the end, he couldn’t make it
on his own up the three stairs at the back porch.
The perils of watching a beloved dog grow-
ing old—it’s all there to remind me of what I
have to look forward to myself, eventually.
For the last couple of years, he couldn’t see
a thing because his eyes were two solid white
cataracts. He was deaf as a post and toothless
to boot (he got along fine without dentures,
though, which is probably more than I will
be able to say).
Part of what makes me sad is remem-
bering the old days when he scampered and
strutted around like he was boss of all ani-
mals in the house, including the 110-pound
Newfoundland. The other animals always let
Tito call the shots.
Even our current, over-exuberant pup we
got a couple years ago, Eddy, gave Tito the
respect he deserved.
When Eddy was a puppy, he couldn’t
seem to figure out that our little dog wasn’t
much interested in wrestling over a bone or
toy. Even though Eddy outweighed the Little
Man by 50 pounds, he always gave Tito the
right of way.
Whether it was a sign of respect for his elder
or proof that he’s just a pushover, Eddy would
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PAGE 11
cock his head and stand idly by while Tito
edged in on Eddy’s food bowl to polish it
off, gumming the kibble and growling at
Eddy if he got too close.
After he passed, Eddy seemed gen-
uinely forlorn, and now he seems to
realize that, when it comes to burning
off energy, he’s really on his own.
In spite of the obvious travails of old
age catching him, Tito seemed pretty
happy right up to that last house call
from the vet.
During his final years, he spent the
bulk of his time dreaming, no doubt, of
his misspent youth: his salad days of
killing the neighbors’ chickens, throt-
tling city rats, and barking at the mailman.
He finished his time on Earth with an
unquenchable appetite and was ever-ready
to snuggle up on the couch with his humans.
Up to the end, Tito could find his way into
a willing lap, bumping into walls he misre-
membered as doors.
On the whole, I’d say Tito eased into
senescence gracefully and went quietly into
that long goodnight more philosophically
than I imagine I ever would.
Miss you, Little Man. ISI
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