by Jennifer League
Where to start? My mind is in chaos... I still can't believe that my darling baby girl isn't here sleeping in her bed, or playing with her sock, or running to the kitchen for an ice cube. I still walk through our front door wanting to call out to her, to see her run around the corner, wagging her tail, waiting for me to bend down so she can shower me with her kisses, or waiting for us to tuck her into bed so she can sleep peacefully.
Sugar Baby was an angel sent from above... I remember going to the SPCA with my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. My mom had finally decided it was time we had a dog. We didn't want a big one, as we wanted her to be an inside dog. As we were looking around, my granny spotted these two adorable puppies. She instantly said “That one, that's the one!” This little black furbaby with a white chin, paws, and a bit of white on her chest looked up at us and started jumping up and down, knowing that we belonged together. I'm not sure what happened next, as I was 11 years old at the time, but I remember picking her up, and I carried her in my lap all the way home. The first thing she did when she got home was jump out onto the concrete and pee. I actually got to name her, and we thought that Sugar Baby was perfect because she was sweet as sugar and also looked like she had been digging in the sugar bowl. My dad and brother were away at Boy Scout camp, so Sugar was a surprise to them. We all instantly fell in love with our newest edition to the family. My mom and dad would get up in the middle of the night to let her go to the bathroom, one running in front of Sugar so she would follow, and the other behind her so she wouldn't stop. Then, when she came back in, she got her “Puppy Bone”. Sugar was spoiled from the word go. My grandma bought her a beautiful whicker dog bed, which Sugar wasted no time in chewing up. She then managed to dig a hole through the wall in our pantry where we kept her during the day while we were out. Oh, she was a little terror when she was a puppy, but I look back now on that and cherish those memories. As we grew, she grew with us. She became our little lap dog… wherever we sat, she’d jump up and circle around so she could lie beside us and put her head onto whomever’s lap was nearest. Whenever someone was sick or upset, she just knew… she’d go sit by you, or lie next to you… just be there for you, always.
But then there came a day, about 5 years ago, where we were sure she was gone. We had let Sugar outside to go to the bathroom. The time was about 10:30pm. Nothing was out of the ordinary; we did this every night. She’d stay outside for about 10 minutes, then someone would let her back in. The difference this night was she wasn’t there. Wherever Snookums walked, you could hear her dog collar jingle jangle from her tags. There was nothing but silence. We searched for hours to find her. Sugar NEVER had left her yard or my great grandparent’s, which were next door. We were beside ourselves. For four days there was no sign of her. We posted flyers, prayed, and scoured the neighborhood for our precious baby girl. There was just nothing to be found. Finally, four nights later, at about 4am, my mom and I both awoke to her barks on our front porch. We couldn’t believe it! She was back! She had been kidnapped but had managed to dig her way out and find her way back home. It was a blessing and a miracle. Since that night that she wasn’t in the yard, and since the night she came back, I cherished everyday I had with her, knowing what it was like for her to be gone, and then to have her back. It was a second chance. I thanked God everyday for that blessing, the day he gave my sweet pea back to us.
We gave her a bath, cleaned her up, trimmed the burrs out of her hair, and she slept peacefully next to me that night. For about a week, she wasn’t herself. It’s to be expected since she went through such a traumatic experience. But, a week later, my Snookums was back to her old self. She played tug with her socks; she would grab her tennis ball, flip it over her back, and catch it on the other side.
My baby was the best. Anyone who was close to my family or me knew that she was cherished, very much loved, and above and beyond that, family. She was cherished among everyone in the family. But, unfortunately as we age, so do our beloved pets. It took us a year to realize that what we thought was glaucoma was actually scratches on the surface of her eyes due to the fact that her tear glands weren’t producing enough tears to keep her eyes lubricated. It took time, but enough time had passed to cause permanent damage. Shu shu always had allergies. The worst though was her back, near her tail. She would roll over on the floor, and just wiggle her back end to ease the itch. It was the most adorable thing. She would also grab her sock and roll over onto her back and play with it while she was scratching. Whenever you went to pet her, Sugar would walk up enough so your hand was resting on her patch that itched and look back at you as if to say, “Scratch please!” She and I worked out a “system”… she would give me a puppy kiss in exchange for a scratch. But, I believe the hardest thing we both went through, was her hip problem. We aren’t sure what it was, probably arthritis, but her hips just started giving out on her. She couldn’t jump up onto the couch by herself… she could manage to get her front paws up on top, and then she’d give you that cute puppy look as I to say, “Come on, help me up the rest of the way.” No one ever had a problem helping little Sug-y out with whatever she seemed to need or want. If we ate dinner in the living room, she’d sit right next to your leg just waiting for you to drop a scrap. Of course, most of the time she didn’t have to wait for us to drop anything, we usually gave in to those big brown eyes and gave her a bite. Her favorite food though was tortillas. Whenever we had Taco Bell, she knew, and she’d turn circles waiting, because we always gave her a bite. If we had nachos, she couldn’t wait to get to lick the container. She would put her little paw on the inside of the container after about five frustrating minutes of chasing the container around the room as she was trying to lick it.
Yep, Sugar Baby was super special. She had her “Sug-y spot” with myself, my dad, and sometimes even my brother. We would get in the floor on all fours so we had a stance similar to that of a gorilla, meaning there was a big open space between our chest and the floor. Sugar would see us do that, and immediately run to get in her Sug-y spot, the area underneath our chest. She would turn around so she was facing the same way we were, look up, and give you a kiss on the chin. You could tell Sugar to smile, and she would. It was the cutest and sweetest innocent smile you could ever imagine. Snookums had her choice of places to sleep though, that’s for sure. She liked to sleep in the closets of my mom and myself. So, I put a couple of feather pillows inside the closet on the floor and my mother gave her a comforter. If Shu shu wasn’t sleeping in one of those spots, she was on my bed or my brother's, in the very middle. I think she liked seeing which way we could contort our bodies to sleep at night. Neither of us had the heart to move her. Ha, she would even steal your spot if you weren’t looking. For instance, I was laying across my bed about 3 or 4 nights ago, and I got up to get a drink of water. Sugar was on my bed, sleeping at the foot of it. When I came back in, she had moved up to the area where I had been laying. She was rotten at times, but those are some of the sweetest memories I have of her. I’m sure those are sweet for her family as well. Everyone at her vet knew her and loved her. She was a special girl, and very loving and sweet. When we unknowingly adopted two kittens, Romy and Michelle, Sugar and the cats took to each other. The cats loved Sug-y.
For 9 years, we loved, cherished, and pampered our baby girl. She was a sweetheart and the cutest little girl you could imagine. Unfortunately, 4 days ago, we started to lose her. My 21st birthday was Saturday, September 8th. Sugar was just fine that day. I remember her sitting in my room, and my brother walked in and stood right in front of her, just so she would have to look up to see him. He liked her “Airplane Ears”. She did have the cutest floppy ears, so when she looked up, the flopped back. Well, I went out that night, and on Sunday morning before I went to my Dad’s for a birthday get together I told Sug-y that I would be back later, and that I loved her. When I got home later that evening, my mom told me that she was very sick. She had gotten sick, wouldn’t bark at anyone or anything, and just generally was sluggish. So, both my dad and I went back into my mom’s closet where she was sleeping and laid down with her and loved on her. (F.Y.I : My parents split up back in 96. Sugar was about 4 or 5 then, so she was used to my dad. She always got so excited when he’d come over to see my brother or myself because she always knew he’d get into the floor and she could get into her Sug-y spot.) She wouldn’t raise her head to really see either of us; she just lay there. I figured she was just sick, and would be better after she got some rest, as she always was. Well, Monday came and went, and she wouldn’t get up or move for anything. My mom had to help pick her up so she would go outside to use the restroom, but after that she came back in, and came into my room and laid just her head onto her pillows in my closet. That was weird due to the fact that she usually would curl up on top of them. I kept a close eye on her that evening, and checked on her again before I went to bed that night. I awoke sometime later to her crying, a crying sound I had never heard out of her before. It scared me, so I got up and went and laid next to her in the floor. Then she seemed to be fine, so I picked her up and put her onto my bed. I then went back to sleep. I later woke up to the same sounds again and decided then that something was drastically wrong. I woke my mom and step dad and we took her to the animal hospital. My little Snookums was so limp, I had never seen her like that before. I was scared to death that we were about to lose her. When the vet in the emergency room took her temp, it was 105.8 (a normal temp among dogs is 101-102). So, they got an IV in her, got some fluids in, and took X-Rays of her. We all looked at the X-Rays and the vet couldn’t seem to find anything out of the ordinary. They said they wanted to keep her overnight, so we left her there and went home hoping to hear good news from the vet in the morning.
Well, as we all know, on Tuesday, September 11th, a terrorist attacked our country. As I watched all the events unfold before my astonished eyes, the phone rang. My step dad took the call and went into his bedroom so he could hear what they had to say. Then, he walked back in the room, with tears in his eyes, and said it wasn’t good. I’ll never forget the cold metallic taste of fear that ran under my tongue with his words. I had never before seen my step dad cry, as he is a “Man’s Man” and doesn’t like being upset. I knew it was bad, whatever it was. My mom then called me from work, crying. She told me that Sugar was unconscious and had been all night. She said that Snookums had been having seizures and internal bleeding, although the vet didn’t know where. At first, I was completely overcome with fear and grief. I couldn’t believe my baby was being taken away again! As an unspoken, unanimous decision, we knew what we had to do, and to this day, I have never before in my life had to make such a difficult and upsetting decision. Sugar, our sweetheart, our pride and joy that had showed us such unconditional love was dying. She was suffering, and for all that she had given us, and is still giving us through our memories, we had to help her in the only way possible. I called my dad at work and left a message with what was happening. Although he didn’t live with us anymore, he never stopped caring for his baby. I don’t know how anyone who met her couldn’t be touched by her sweetness, cuteness, and love for anyone willing to spare a hand for a pat on the head. Somberly, we drove up to the hospital. We walked into a room, me, my brother, mom, and step dad, and waited for them to roll our baby into the room so we could say our goodbyes. Although she was unconscious, I know she could hear us, and feel the love in the room for our sweet pea. My father even showed up, which I know thrilled her. She always had a special place with “Daddy.” We all told her how much we loved her, and were going to miss her, but that she was going onto a better place, Rainbow Bridge, where we would be reunited once again someday. She would once again be able to jump around, play with her toys, and watch over us while we spent the rest of our time here on earth.
As the doctor walked in with three syringes, we all began to weep. My dad placed her head in his arms and whispered his love for her in her ear as the doctor placed the first syringe into her IV. I kept my hand on her tummy, rubbing it, as I knew she loved it, and told her over and over how much we all loved her. The doctor them placed the second syringe into her IV, and once more, we were showering her with our love as she had done with us her whole life. Within seconds the doctor listened for a heartbeat, and told us she was gone.
Gone.
My sweet pea, whom I shared half of my life with, shared my ups and downs in life with was gone. Just like that. Out of her suffering and pain here, she went to that Rainbow Bridge to be with Granny, who passed away just 4 years earlier, very close to my birthday then as well. She’s now running and playing with Granny, the person who knew instantly she was the one that would bring us so much happiness into our lives.
She brought with her unconditional love, loyalty, and a special addition to this family that will never be replaced. She left us with memories to look back upon and cherish for years to come. Sugar Baby, the light of my life, we will be reunited again someday. We will play, and kiss, and you can get in your Sug-y spot. We miss you baby girl, and though we shed tears, we are only upset at the physical loss of you sweet pea. Your spirit and love with live within our hearts forever, and when the time comes that we should go to Rainbow Bridge, we will never be apart again. I love you Snookums, and miss you dearly. *KISSES*