My Best Friends Have Hairy Legs by Cierra Rantoul Read Free Book Online Page B

appreciate my cats—all of whom accepted him with their usual attitude of “Oh great. Another dog. Whatever.” He did make a few attempts to chase one of them up the stairs before he got the sharp end of Ebony’s paw when he tried to chase her. Ripkin has one of those happy, go-lucky personalities. No one is a stranger to him, and he loves to meet, greet and frisk you for treats. Whatever his history was, at some point we think he must have been starved for food. He will quickly inhale any food, treat, or potentially edible substance before he even knows what it was. Most of the time without even chewing, and will always look for more as if he has an insatiable hunger. Both Ripkin and Trooper recognize each other’s names and know where the other lives—if Trooper and I are returning from a walk and he is off leash, I can ask him if he wants to see Ripkin and he will make a beeline for his front door. Ripkin will do the same. They are, for the most part, inseparable pals who are always excited to see each other and spend time playing or just lying on the floor napping. I can tell, however, after a week into one of Ripkin’s extended stays that their relationship is almost like a big brother (Trooper) with an annoying little brother (Ripkin) in spite of the fact that Trooper is the younger of the two. Ripkin can have a pushy “me first” attitude about everything from eating to getting out the door first for a walk, or getting upstairs to bed or to who gets to ride shotgun on the way to day care. On a recent two week stay, when I did our usual “last one upstairs is a rotten egg” call before going up for bed, Ripkin made a good attempt at getting up first, but Trooper body slammed him into the wall at the bottom of the stairs and beat him. Yep, typical “siblings.”
    My pug, Tink, was also a rescue and I got her when she was nine months old. Officially, she was “Tinkerbell,” however “Tink” seemed to fit her personality better and so it stuck. One Halloween she and Trooper dressed up as Tinkerbell and Peter Pan, but that was the only time she ever wore a costume or shirt other than a bandana after a grooming trip. Her extra “padding” made her overheat quickly and so keeping her in a shirt or costume for too long could be dangerous. Trooper on the other hand, loves to wear shirts. When Trooper arrived, Tink was three years old and had already had two major surgeries to remove bladder stones. She was diagnosed with liver shunts after her second surgery, and her health issues just seemed to grow each year. In spite of it all, Tink never seemed to be afraid of anything or anyone. She was a happy, carefree spirit who greeted everyone with a tail wag and a face full of pug snot if they got too close. We joked in my townhouse complex that she was the “official” greeter—she would wander into anyone’s open front door, or hop in their car for a ride if they left the door open. Everyone loved her, and she loved everyone. At the dog park when she felt that the dogs were being too rough with someone—even a dog ten times her size—she would 59 wade right in like a referee to break it up. Chasing the big dogs at the park was her favorite thing to do… barking like a squeaky toy as she ran. Someone once asked me if she was hurting because of how she barked when she ran, and I told them no, that was her happy bark. She was having the time of her life playing with the big dogs. She took care of everything with a big slobbery pug kiss. The only thing her kisses—or mine - couldn’t fix was her own health problems.

C HAPTER 6

    Final Straws

    My health issues caused me to need another surgery in early spring shortly after our first anniversary. Once again, Trooper refused to leave my side as soon as I was home from the hospital. It was also when I finally realized just where I stood in my marriage and began to accept that it could not be salvaged.
    The morning after I got out of the hospital I awoke briefly