Miss Mandy

It all started when my mom decided that my brother should have a dog, he didn’t live with us anymore, but he should have a dog at our house for when he came over. This was nothing new to me, at fourteen I had become accustomed to the baby getting whatever he wanted plus more. He had lived with my dad for 3 years and was only 7 at the time. We went down to the shelter to see about adopting a stray, it was cheaper, and it gave a deserving animal a home. They looked at a few different dogs, but she was the first one to connect with the whole family. She was only 3 months old and had been on the street for her whole young life. My mom and her boyfriend decided that she was the one. I got to name her, which my brother was ok with because he was bad at girl names.

At the time that this little girl pup joined the family, I had a best friend that I spent all of my time with, so naturally I name the dog after her. The nameless little girl we picked up became known as Amanda Jenna Spivak, or Mandy for short. Now that I think about it in my older years, it’s probably not the greatest gesture to name your dog after your female friend.

She was the absolute worst puppy when we first got her. The very first time that we left her home alone she ate the love seat. There was only bits and pieces left, I am not sure how she managed to rip that couch apart, but she did. She also used to eat everyone’s underwear, shoes, and cigarettes. The first few months there was a lot of following her around and rules about what she was allowed to do and where she was allowed to be.

One of the rules was that she was only allowed in the house during the day when someone was home. I was not ok with her being outside for the night so I built a ramp up to my window and would let her in when my parents went to bed. My mom’s boyfriend even made her stay out in the winter. I would get all dressed up in my winter gear, go outside, and sing “The River by Garth Brooks” to her with a blanket I was not supposed have for her. I think this was the point in which we built our unbreakable bond. We went through some bad times together after that, she took some bad beatings from my mom’s boyfriend, as did my mother and I, but she always stayed happy and friendly.

As Mrs. Mandy grew, she became a very loving, loyal, and kind friend. She used to let me dress her up for the holidays and take photos. She slept at the end of my bed every night. She always followed my baby brother around making sure he was ok. Anything that us kids were doing, she was right there trying to participate. I even took her with me to the elderly home in Leduc when we lived there to volunteer.

I remember when we lived in B.C., she was outside with Sox (our adopted kitten) and the sun had gone down. Now when you live our part of B.C you bring you animals in at night because if you don’t the coyote’s will lure them away and kill them. We weren’t paying attention until the howling from the coyote’s started. My mom and I ran out into the back yard to find Mrs. Mandy sitting on top of her doghouse with Sox sitting on her back. He was her baby cat, until we lost him to a vehicle a few weeks after the coyote incident.

Well I must cut this story short because this challenge closes in 2 hours, so I hope you take the time to cuddle your fur babies. Sorry the pictures suck, it was a long time ago. I think about Mrs. Mandy daily, 10 years have passed by since she has been gone and I still think about her daily. That same abusive psychopath was the reason she is not here anymore, she slipped while they were in a field playing ball, she broke her front leg. It was not the leg break that took her life, but the infection that grew in it after she missed her check up appointment. The infection took her life within a week.