Dogs

Janet, to put it mildly, loved dogs. She wasn't allowed one growing up, a fact that she hadn't completely forgiven her parents for decades later. To be fair, they did move around quite a bit-- hard to drag a puppy all the way over to Singapore. So she contented herself with a few hundred stuffed animals (only a slight exaggeration) and playing with the neighborhood beagle, Ginger.

It wasn't until Janet hit thirty or so that she really got dog crazy, though. Obsessed is probably a more accurate word for it. Make those jokes about a biological clock if you would (and perhaps I did), but Janet would tell you that she didn't want a baby, she wanted a dog. Because they're cute. And fuzzy. And above else, because they're dogs.

I remember doing a street fair without her, as she was recovering from surgery. We called her, and one of the first things she asked was "Were there any dogs there?" Dave, our drummer, obliged by describing each and every fuzzbutt (her term) that was padding about the street. Sure, we were teasing her. But I think it made her happier. I mean, when we were out, she'd point out dogs that were literally blocks away.

For a while, we lived in a granny flat (one room house in our landlord's backyard). Our landlady to be asked Janet if she minded dogs. Janet told her that was a major plus. So we shared the backyard with our landlord's dogs, and she couldn't have been happier. Unless, of course, we got our own. In the meantime, she'd carry pictures of Murphy, Pete and Annie around in her wallet and show them to people, then grudgingly admit that they weren't hers.

We finally got our own dog when we moved into our current place. We honestly didn't know we were moving next to a rescue shelter, but move there we did. It's literally next door to our condo complex. We hadn't even finished unpacking when Susie bounded into our lives.

"Susie," Janet said, "was a freak of nature." Our current dog, Molly, is as smart as border collies are. But Susie seemed convinced that she was a person. She'd follow conversations, and pick up words in casual use without us even trying to teach them to her.

This is Janet's blog, but Susie was a huge part of Janet's life. I posted Susie's story before on my livejournal (since fallen into disuse, I think I like blogs better). If you want to read about a girl and her dog, click on "Susie's Story":

Susie's Story