Chewy's Pawprint

I was never a dog person. We did not have dogs growing up, so I did not know the level of attachment between a human and a dog. It wasn’t until my young adult children suggested I get a dog that I understood.

Chewy came into our lives at only 5-weeks old. He was a Chihuahua-Dachshund mix and the runt of the litter. Chewy’s mommy rejected the pup. Therefore, we stepped up to care for him. He stole our hearts. Even though he had a heart murmur, he lived a happy 10 years. But he succumbed to his heart. His little body could not take it anymore and he died on August 26, 2022. His death devastated us.

About a week before Chewy’s death, I sent his photo to be published in the following year’s calendar. I did not hear from them until about a month after his death, when they notified me that Chewy’s photo made the 2023 calendar.

We received the calendar in December. They published Chewy’s photo on the March page. I acknowledged it but was too deep in pain to look at anything else on the calendar, so I set it aside where I did not have to see it. There was no need for a calendar. I just wanted to have his photo published on it.

We decided not to get another dog, since losing Chewy took a toll on us. Plus, we discovered that my husband’s allergy for the past 10 years was because of Chewy. He was allergic to dogs, and we did not realize it until Chewy was no longer with us. But also thought that if we do, it would have to be hypoallergenic and small enough to travel with us. But, in February of the following year, an opportunity arose for us to rescue a dog. So we jumped at the chance.

The rescue was a 12-week-old white, beige, and black male surrendered by its owner. He was only 6 pounds. According to his records; he was a Yorkie. Yay, that meant he is hypoallergenic and will stay small enough to travel with us. That is when Kike came into our lives. We still missed Chewy, but having Kike helped us with our grieving.

Kike is a beautiful dog. He received praise everywhere we took him. But people always commented how he did not resemble a Yorkie. Curiosity got a hold of us, therefore, we had a DNA test done. The results confirmed he was a Biewer Yorkie mixed with Maltese. It did not matter to us. Kike is very much loved and an outstanding companion.

A few months later, I came across the calendar and thought I’d put it up in our home office wall. But first, I wanted to look at the entire calendar. This time, I went from page to page, taking time to admire all the precious pets on it. When I reached the month of March, right next to Chewy’s photo, was a little guy by the name of Cooper. To my surprise, he was identical to Kike! I had never seen another one like Kike and still ’til today have not seen one other than that photo.

As I mentioned before, Kike is not a common breed. So seeing the photo next to Chewy resembling Kike so much was not a coincidence for us. I feel our Chewy had a paw on this. He chose his next photo neighbor look-alike to be our new fur baby. Chewy knew our hearts were aching for him and he ensured to find one that would bring us as much joy as he did. We are happy with Kike, and still miss Chewy. But, like my oldest son used to say, “There’s no such thing as a coincidence.” Thank you, Chewy.

Originally published in Medium and Newsbreak on August 10, 2024.