I had the honor and privilege of knowing one of the best souls that ever existed in a dog body. She was sweet and loving, and so fucking smart. She was an Alpha through and through. She was the shit, man.
When she was just a young pup we had gone for a walk by a river whose banks had been recently cut away by floods. She was off leash and I told her not to go any farther towards the river bank; she looked back at me defiantly with that alpha-dog (pup) way about her, and plopped over the edge anyway. As I ran toward the river bank to retrieve her I saw that little teddy-bear-faced pooch’s head pop up, her little ears flapping, and again, this time a little lower as she had sunken into the mud below. I reached over and picked her up by the scruff of her back and explained to her that when I say no it means no, and not just because I’m trying to be mean or something, but because I was seriously looking out for her. From that moment on we were tight. She understood; I understood that she understood, and it was amazing.
I have so many amazing memories with this doggy. I know everyone likes to brag and say that their dog is the best, [and this wasn’t even my dog, it was my old neighbor’s dog] but she was seriously the best. So good that one time she actually went nose to nose with a skunk, but didn’t get sprayed. (I’m telling you this doggy was the muthafuckin’ coolest).
Another time, when she was still pretty young and I would have expected her to chew through anything, I had a boyfriend who cooks over, and his shoes were covered in grease and flour. I heard him say “Oh Shella, my shoes”, and thought that I was gonna owe him a new pair…nope! She fucking spit polished those shoes perfectly clean and left them in a neat little pile at the bottom of the stairs for him.
There was a time we were walking through the woods in winter (which seriously is like all the time in VT) and a deer popped out in front of us, and Shella jumped, but stopped and turned back to look to me for the okay before running ahead. There were so many adventures we had just walking through our boring little VT town. We walked the train tracks down, and we walked the tracks up. We did every damn loop you could in that town and then some. The best part was I never needed to put her on a leash. She knew, when I said “stay close” she came close, when I said “stay out of the road” she moved out of the road.
I missed her so much before she was even gone from this world. I so wished I could have spent more time with her, but life doesn’t always work out that way. So, I am left to think of the good times, the amazing times I’ve had with Shella-roodle-roo. I could go on and on about the fun shit we did together and the great times we had, but in the end I can only hope that she knows how truly loved she was (is still) by all of us…because she was that fucking cool. She made so many people’s lives brighter with her super-fucking cute puppy dog face! And her whole body wiggles and her little rabble-rouser growl-bark-greetings. I will sincerely miss her jumping on me…I still have some sleeves with her little bite-marks in them and now I never want to toss them.
Shella-roodles, you’re the best fucking dog I’ve ever had the pleasure of bonding with. May your soul move smoothly and easily into the next incarnation. I hope you feel all the love you brought into this world and then some. I love you so fucking much. May we meet again. ∞
All my love to you, Shella-roo,
your Sony.
mindofthemasses 