A couple of days after our dog, Johnnie, passed, following a brave, hard-fought battle with cancer, the vet's office called me. It was one of the receptionists on the line, asking what inscription I would like to have engraved on his pawprint urn. She said they had forgotten to tell me that an inscription was included in the price. Three lines total....25 letters maximum.
"Wow", I said, "I will have to think about that and get back to you."
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How could I possibly choose a proper inscription for him, with only 25 letters and three lines? He was one of the finest spirits we had ever known. He packed so much joy and fun and loyalty and sharing and unconditional love into 14 short years, that flew by at lightening speed. He taught us how to be better humans (as all dogs do). He was the first dog, along with his brother Jimmie, that my husband and I made a part of our family. We both had dogs as kids....but neither of us had owned a dog (or had a dog own US) as adults until that day I spotted the two of them, left-over pups at 14 weeks old, at a little shop in South Pasadena. It was across the street from my nail and hair salon and I wandered in one day to pick up some supplies for our rabbits and birds. I had no idea they also had puppies for adoption inside. All of their littermates had been adopted a couple of weeks earlier, and these two little guys, buff Cocker Spaniel brothers, were the only two left. At 14 weeks, they were getting to that stage of being "too big" to be for folks who wanted little puppies, but my gosh, they were still the cutest puppies I had ever seen. At first, I was only going to adopt one of them....but when I picked Jimmie up, Johnnie made SUCH A FUSS at the thought of being left behind, that I could NOT leave him behind. I never regretted that decision for one second. Although they were brothers, they couldn't have been more different from each other. Jimmie was (and IS) SO independent, and a free spirit, always. Johnnie, on the other hand, wanted only to please, always obeyed the rules, always walked by my side, never pulling forward on his leash. In fact, on one of our first "training" walks after I brought them home, my husband and I were teaching them to walk on a leash and I took the lead, walking down the sidewalk with Jimmie. My husband was right behind, walking with Johnnie. Well, I walk faster than my husband and had soon put a nice little gap between us, with Jimmie trotting happily along. I heard a loud crying bark from behind me, and saw little Johnnie trying desperately to catch up to us, while being tethered to my slow-strolling husband. Johnnie got so upset he just sat down on the sidewalk and howled. I knew then that he was "mama's boy" and he remained so for the rest of his life.
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As we adopted other dogs and cats, Johnnie was clearly the "alpha" with the pets. It was "Johnnie in Charge" and he was always the first to eat, the first to try out the new toys and the one to show the newer dogs the ropes and the rules.
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However, he was quite deferential to humans, and always polite, always trying to please and do the right thing. He was a dog you could take anywhere the dogs are allowed to go. Pet friendly B&B's, dog-friendly restaurants, the beach, the boardwalk, the dog park. He loved to go for rides in the car or truck and especially loved our big trek across country in 2004 from Los Angeles to Philly, when I was hired as a QVC Show Host. When Cesar Millan met Johnnie and Jimmie at QVC, he told me he thought they were two of the most well-adjusted dogs he had ever met. Tamar Gellar adored them too.
They were a familiar sight at the Q until they turned about 11 years old, and it was too much of an ordeal for Johnnie, who had become somewhat arthritic and could no longer do the long walks through the QVC halls to get backstage. While he could still get around fairly well, Johnnie loved to chase birds in the front yard, never once thinking THIS time he would catch one! He tried only once to chase the horse and rider trotting down our lane, and discovered rather quickly that the horse was much larger that him at close range! His two favorite things in life were taking naps and to have a bite or two of whatever WE were eating, and he would patiently wait exactly two minutes, and then politely BARK until given a taste. Our dinner table is strangely and sadly silent now. We never thought we would miss that "John-John bark" at mealtime....but oh, how we DO.
When you lose a pet, it changes the dynamic of your household. Our other pets were abnormally QUIET for the first couple of days. They knew something was different. They picked up on our sadness and they mourned him too. But they also have been especially helpful in letting us know that life continues, even though it will never be the same. Jimmie trots around the house, Monty does his "happy dance", Eliza sits extra close to me in the evening watching TV, Betty,the Grey Parrot, has stopped saying "Hey John Hey John!"....but still calls the other dogs by name.
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We will be creating a special memorial garden area for Johnnie this spring, under the maple tree where he used to try to sneak up on the birds, in classic Cocker Spaniel style. I know he is still around and will always be with us. We will never forget him, his big brown eyes, his long silky tail (which we never had docked....we think Cocker tails are beautiful!) and his sweet, gentle ways. I know he must have been VERY brave to go on ahead without us, without mama, for the very first time. He never wanted to take the lead, but this time, I knew as he breathed his last breath that he had taken off, running over the golden fields to meet his brother Henry and MY brothers Matt and Johnny, at Rainbow Bridge, young and healthy once more, to wait for us there.
Meanwhile, I sat at my desk yesterday, with a scratch pad, crossing out letters and words and trying to come up with 25 letters to inscribe on the Pawprint Urn. And as I looked out the office window on a finally, sunny day, at the green lawn where Johnnie used to play, at the stone angel statue holding one of his precious birds, it came to me: 25 letters. Johnnie Forever In Our Hearts.
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Thank you for all of your kind thoughts, words and prayers for Johnnie over the past few months. We so appreciate your friendship and support.
With love, Carolyn, Mike and ALL of our wonderful pets
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