Goodbye, Jackie

Longtime friends here at JuicyMaters knew Jackie.  She was a little halfbreed…more like 57 breed mix, really..dog that I got last year when she was about 6 weeks old.  Remember…I asked y’all for help naming her, being unable to do better than DAD…short for Dumb A** Dog…myself.  I got a few suggestions from y’all, and a threat from Irish, my 6 ft tall redheaded friend, that no matter what I BETTER get away from DAD, so the puppy wound up being named Jackie.

Jackie was a small dog, around 20-25 lbs I would guess, and not really my type.  I like big dogs, like Rotties and Mastiffs, but I tolerated Jackie.  After all, she had been gifted to me by a desperate neighbor. Jennifer, the neighbor, had been over at my home one

Who? Me?

day and I had mentioned that I was thinking it was about time for me to get another dog, having had to get rid of my Anatolian Shepherd a couple of years before when I got too ill to take care of her and my other animals.

The next day there was a knock at the door and there was Jennifer’s son and his girlfriend…and a puppy.  I wasn’t thrilled.  I had meant it was about time to get another dog in a general, non-specific way, not that I wanted one RIGHT NOW, today!

But it WAS cute, I have to admit that.

So…I wound up with a bundle of fur and slobber that contained some plain ol’ hound, some Staffordshire Terrier…AKA “Pit Bull”…some Jack Russel Terrier…a whole bunch of breeds.  A small, quick, fast (there IS a difference, ya know) puppy who I promptly named DAD, acronym for Dumb A** Dog – because she was.  I told y’all about her shortly after she arrived to live at the yurt.

Y’all helped me name her.  I had been threatened by someone (she’s 6 ft tall and redheaded) that her name was NOT going to be DAD, so I asked y’all for help with a name and some of you responded, and she became Jackie.

That was a good thing, too.  It turned out she was not a dumb a** dog after all.  In fact, she was really smart, sometimes too smart.

Do you know how humiliating it is to have a dog that is smarter than you are?

Back in June Jackie gave birth to 6 puppies, father unknown (shameless little hussy), and there was one I didn’t give away.  He got named Mikey, as in “Give it to Mikey..he’ll eat anything.”  (Are you old enough to name that commercial?).

Tuckered out

Anyway, he looks a lot like Jackie, except he’s a bit shorter and stockier…OMG, she was so lean, so damn FAST (did I mention she was fast AND quick?)…but it’s easy to see he is her son.

Well…Mikey and I are sitting here…me at the computer and Mikey at my feet…wishing Jackie was here.  You see, we, Irish (the 6 ft redhead), Mikey, and I buried Jackie Wednesday, and Mikey and I, and Irish who is 50 miles away, are missing her.  I mean REALLY missing her.

I screwed up.  I live way out in the country (by eastern standards…in Wyoming I’d be considered a townie probably, as I’m only 6 miles or so from town) and Jackie ran free.  I hate seeing a dog tied and since I live on a dirt road off of a secondary road, off of another secondary road, I let her, and Mikey, run loose.  In nice weather I even left the door open after letting them out in the morning, letting them come and go as they wanted.  She did stay close to the house.  Really.  But not Tuesday night.

At midnight Tuesday I felt there was a problem.  See, I always let them out to “do their thing” (silly phrase, don’t you think?”) around 11pm, and they were back by 11:20 or so.  Tuesday night Mikey came back in, but not Jackie and by midnight I had a bad feeling.  I went out looking, but couldn’t look much in the dark.  I left the door ajar when I finally went to bed.

Wednesday morning when I woke up I didn’t open my eyes right away, hoping that when I did Jackie would be staring at me from 6 inches away, waiting to be let out, as usual.  When my eyes opened, my heart sank…no Jackie.

Gone..

A friend called about an hour later and told me he had seen Jackie laying by the side of the paved road.  Mikey misses Jackie.  So do I.

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