The Tale of a No Tail

In Hatcher Pass. She always seemed to enjoy a good view.

 She had no tail. Who ever had her before me, cropped her ears and docked her tail to make her look more like the boxer, she only half was. The other half I suspect was husky, but we never knew for sure. She was 4 when I came across her in the Bangor Humane Society. I had been there looking many times for a dog. When I saw her it was love at first sight. I threw her a ball and she brought it and dropped it at my feet. She never again even looked the direction of a ball, absolutely no interest. She must have thought it worked for the other dogs and she wanted to go home with me. The woman who processed my paperwork to adopt her said "I mean no insult to you by saying this, but she looks like you. You belong together." She couldn't have been more right. I didn't find a dog that day. I found a best friend, a guardian angel.

That was a little over 12 years ago. The dog they told me wasn't good with kids, wasn't good with kids... until Little Bear. She knew he was part of our pack. In our years together she has driven across the entire continent with me twice, between Alaska and Rhode Island. She has flown across the continent twice, lived with me in 3 apartments in Maine, my parents house in RI , 4 cabins & 2 apartments in Fairbanks, my dad's house, and 3 houses in Anchorage. She has climbed mountains and floated rivers with me. She taught me to be an adult. Gave me the routine I desperately needed. We played hide and seek in the woods together (she really did hide too). She gave me the sense of safety and security to explore the woods. I quit smoking in college, we walked and ran instead. She saw me through heartache, grief and the ultimate joys of my life.

We put her to rest yesterday after 16.5 years of a wonderful life. I woke this morning with a powerful sense of relief that she was no longer in pain, riddled with the ailments that come with age.

I may have fed her and took her to the vet, but Lotus took more care of me, than I of her.

Thank you.

A boy and an old lady.

Our first weekend in Alaska, 11 years ago this May.

Loopy Lupine's first weekend with Lotus and me.

She hated the heat and wouldn't move from the shade on this hike in NH.