A Dog's Life

German Shepard. Eyes still closed, ears standing tall, twitching in the direction they hear the commotion. She opens her eyes from the night’s slumber. It’s an early August morning and the heat is already a thick blanket laying in the air. The man and the woman are yelling again. For some reason lately, they have been home more often which meant these interactions are now an expected daily occurrence.

She throws the coffee mug. It hits the wall over the Shepard. It doesn’t break but snaps back off the wall spilling the contents. As it drips down the wall the Shepard jumps up, barks a couple of times at its humans then whimpers out of the room to the back door. She’s scared, she can’t help it but it happens anyway. She relieves herself on the floor. The yelling woman walks over and sees the mess. She yells to the man. He approaches, eyes bulging, inaudible screams are now directed towards the Shepard. He tugs his belt through the loops of his pants, pulls it over his shoulder, and thrusts it down onto the dog. She barks, growls, whimpers, and urinates some more. The woman opens the back door and the Shepard runs out to the yard.

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Inhale, exhale, silence, inhale, exhale, silence, repeat. Brian was just waking up and he could hear the breathing of his best friend laying beside him. He opened one eye to locate her head to place his hand on it.

“Exactly where I’d rather be.” Brain said as he looked out the window.

It had snowed again for what felt like the 15th time this month. It was February. No longer was there a need to escape from the humidity. Now all flee from the freezing cold, snow, and ice. Cuddled together in bed Brian and Sadie did not have to worry about that. They were kept warm by each other while Brian admired the snow and icicles weighing down the pine tree’s branches outside his window.

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The man and woman had moved to a new place. The landlord felt German Shepards were dangerous and did not allow the man and woman to home the Shepard with them. Sadie felt confused.

“Where are they?”, she thought. “I’m hungry. They don’t feed me enough here.” “I won’t go in the house again. I PROMISE!”

The shelter was loud. Loud with other dogs that were making similar whines, whimpers, growls, and barks related to their own mishaps that landed them in the joint. Some argued with each other from between their cells.

“Wait till I get out of here. I’ll let you have it then!”

“Ha! With that snot, I doubt it!”

After a bit of this, a female dog snapped in, (because unlike a human prison the pound was co-ed)

“NOW SHUT UP ALL OF YOUS! Ain’t none of yous shit anyway! If anybody gonna have their ass handed to them it would be ME PUTTIN’ ALL YALL ASSESS INLINE! Arrgghhh..now that that fight is over I would like some quiet. So I can sleep and hopefully wake up to either my forever human or a human with a needle. Either way, it means the end to all of this.”

It was quiet for about 1/16th of a second until one stud barked over, “Now you know you’re the finest bitch in here. I’d be happy to help put you to sleep. Mmm, you sexy stray!”

The other male dogs either started barking more sexual expletives at her, rolled with laughter, or went right back to arguing with each other about who was more of a mongrel than a pooch. The female dog just turned her back to the males and contemplated which outcome was more likely, a happy ending with lots of love, pets, and walkies or a really long nap. Sadie was terrified. She laid down in a corner of her cell where she couldn’t see any of the others. She flipped her empty food bowl over her head in an attempt to drown out the surreal sounds of the shelter.

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Even though it was now September, the summer heat had not yet faded into fall and Sadie was still at the rescue. Being a mature Shepard of 6 years, scared of men, and urinating when under stress she spent over a month in the shelter. Brain didn’t care about her flaws. He wanted to get to know her. After spending 20 minutes together she was completely comfortable with him. Ten minutes later she was jumping in the back of his car. When Brian showed Sadie her new home she jumped upon him, put her paws on his shoulders, and kissed him. As if saying, “Thank you for rescuing me from that God awful place!”.

Two months later fall was in full swing and so was another COVID-19 surge. Brian had caught the dreaded virus. He was lethargic and often confined to his bed. Sadie never left his side. She would bring her toys to his bedside, place her head on the bed and look up at Brain asking, “May I please join you?” She would wait for Brian to give her the all-clear. Then she would snuggle up with Brian and her toy. She provided him comfort and strength during an unpredictable experience.

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Toy in mouth, Sadie walks over to Brian’s bed. She places the toy beside him and says, “Please, please, please, please, please? Look, you see? See what I have? That’s for you. Well, us because I still want it. But you know you can have it, too….please, please, pleaseeeeee can I come up?”

“No, not today Sadie”, says Brian.

“What? No? Why?”, Sadie whimpers.

“Don’t cry, girl. I’m feeling better today. In fact, do...you...think...we...should...GO…”

“Oh my God! Go? Go where?

“Should we GOOOOO....” Sadie jumps down low to the ground. “Yes! Yes! Yes, we can go!”

“...GO FOR A…”

She jumps up. “Go for a what?! What?! WHAT?!”

“...Should we GO FOR A…." She spins in place.

“....should we GO FOR A WALKIES!”

“AHHHH, WALKIES!!”, Sadie, barks.

Sadie drops low, jumps high, spins once more, before running out the room. She attempted a quick left but the hardwood floor made her feel as if she was running in place. She does one lap around the house and returns full force into the bedroom. Leash in mouth. Brian laughed at the sight and began to dress for their winter walk. Brian and Sadie were excited to be back outside for walkies. Sadie wondered why Brian wasn’t showing his excitement as much but she figured he was just more reserved in that area.

Slowly, Brian and Sadie were back at doing their daily 4 mile walkies. Unfortunately, in mid-January Sadie and Brian went through another tragic experience together. The long term effects of COVID had caused Brian to develop blood clots. Which traveled to his brain and caused him to have a stroke one night while he slept.

The next morning Brian woke and attempted to get out of bed. Instantly, he fell to the floor, unable to walk. Sadie was on the bed at the time but rushed to Brian as soon as he fell. She knew something was wrong. Brian knew he lived alone and needed to get to a phone. Sadie laid next to Brian and began to kiss his face, concerned for her human. Trying to console his friend he felt her collar. He decided to try and use Sadie as a counterweight to get up. When he grabbed her collar she instinctively started to pull backward. Between Sadie’s pulling and the little strength Brian had, they managed to pull Brian out of the corner he was in and get him to his cell phone.

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“Hey, Bri! How are ya?”, Brian’s brother said while he waved at Brian on the other end of the video call.

“Sick of this place I can tell ya that! But I’m not too shabby. I can’t wait to get home. Where’s Sadie?”, asked Brian.

“She’s here. Doing…”

“Well, let me talk to her!”, Brian exclaimed.

“Uh, sure...yeah.”

“SADIE, SADIE!! COME HERE GIRL!”, Brian yelled through the call. Sadie came running. She could see her human. She could hear her human. But she couldn’t smell or touch him.

Saide was bewildered and said, “Uhhh….where are you? Where did you go? You have a face but where is your head?”

…....................................................................................................................

It wasn’t until February when Sadie and Brian could be reunited. She stayed with her foster father, Brian’s brother until Brian was discharged from physical rehab. As Brian was rolled out of rehab in a wheelchair he saw Sadie waiting for him outside and he called for her, “Sadie!! Come here, girl!”

Sadie, fooled by the floating face on more than one occasion, approached with some reluctance.

“Not again, face without head. Not again!” However, upon the first sniff, she realized it was no rouse.

“Ahhhh!! It’s you!” Her tail wagged, she spun, she dropped low and jumped high. “It’s really you!” She growled and barked with excitement. She jumped up on Brian and kissed all over his face and blad head.