I wanted a dog so bad, but I was having a lot of trouble convincing my husband that we should get a dog. He believed that all dogs should remain outside and not in the house. We had a small house in the country where my husband spent a lot of his time and I had an apartment in town and working contract. There was a lot of down time because contract work was sporadic. I started looking in the papers for dogs, just to get an idea of what kinds of dogs were available and the cost. I was looking through the local greensheet and spotted an ad from a shelter about a litter of puppies of mixed Schnauzer/Chihuahua breed. I called for directions and immediately went to see the litter. The lady said the litter would be ready in about a week but that I should go ahead and pick the one I wanted and she would put a collar on her to reserve her for me. The one I picked was so round and furry, brown and black hair with white hair on her head, around her neck, chest and from legs. She was only about 5 inches tall and about 6 inches in length. She didn’t look like a schnauzer because her face was shaped more like a Chihuahua and her ears and tail were not cropped. It was agony waiting for the one week to pass. I remember how anxious I was to go back and get her. From the moment I picked her up, she was my baby and I was her mommy.

I clearly remember Roxie. I remember that I used to scoop one teaspoon of puppy Eukanuba feed into a small dish, add hot water, and let it sit for a few minutes till the food absorbed all the liquid. She used to eat it all and her tummy would get really big and when we went outside for a walk, it looked like her tummy was dragging on the ground her legs were so short. I have a picture of her standing next to my husband’s shoe; she looked so small next to it. She was so small she could fit in my hand for the first month. I remember that for the first couple of nights she slept in a crate next to my bed. I put the crate on a chair so I could see her inside. She would always look so sad. I couldn’t stand it, so from then on she always slept with me. When you first go to bed, she would always slay down next to my chest and when she thought you were asleep she would move to your feet and that is where she stayed for the night. I miss having that ball of fur by my feet at night. My apartment had a long hallway and I taught her how to fetch a ball and bring it back to me. She loved to play ball. Just to make it interesting, I put a laundry basket in a doorway and covered it with a rug. I would throw the ball and she would clear that laundry basket and come back with the ball so proudly and be ready to go as soon as she dropped the ball. She looked like she was just sailing through the air.

Roxie loved to go for car rides. For a while, she was able to sit on my leg while I was driving and look out the window. Later, she was too heavy to sit there for long periods of time. Six months after Roxie came into my life, I took a contract job, which meant I would be commuting between Houston and Dallas. I couldn’t leave my baby so I stayed at Homewood Suites that allowed pets. Roxie and I would leave every Monday Morning to drive to Dallas and return home early Saturday morning. Sometimes instead of driving to the apartment, we would go to the country and surprise my husband. Roxie loved her Daddy too. It would take us 3 hours to get to the country, but somehow, even after sleeping all the way, she knew exactly when we make the turn and she would immediately be at the window.

Roxie was two years old when my husband died. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in July 1997. He was very angry at first and then he just gave up. I remember one time, he yelled at Roxie and since then, she more or less stayed away from him and after he wanted to make up with her, hut it was never the same again. He had hurt her feelings. Roxie went to Oklahoma with us for the funeral. Others may have thought it strange, but I didn’t care. I put a picture of Roxie with my husband because he really felt the same about her. For a guy who was so set in his ways, once we got Roxie, he was converted. Roxie was such a comfort to me when my husband died. Sometimes I would just lie in bed holding her and she stayed as if knowing that I needed her. I don’t know what I would have done without her. She filled my life. For a whole year, it was just the two of us.

When I worked in Dallas and commuted for a year and a half back and forth to Houston, I would leave Roxie in a crate in the morning so the maids could come in and clean the room. I would go back to the room at lunch and let her out, we’d have lunch, play and go for a walk. This was our every day routine for a year and a half. When I moved to an apartment, I went home for lunch too. But when I moved into the house, I couldn’t do that anymore and I was heart broken that she had to stay at home by herself. About a month after that, we brought Bailey home to keep her company during the day. She was tolerant of Bailey, she knew he was a baby, and Bailey knew that she was the Boss around this house. Three years later we brought Baxter home and a couple of years later we brought Lucky home. But even with all these dogs, which are all males, Roxie was the Boss, Roxie was the queen and when she growled at them, they all backed down.