to my dear sweet Yuki and Shasta
back in 1994 and 1995 two dogs came into my life. Shasta, a Rottweiler, i went to seek out at the SPCA. he stole my heart from the first moment we´d met. after doing all the "adoption" paperwork, i took him home 9 August 1994. he was one of those dogs with a big heart, fierce-looking but as mild as anything. he craved affection but always leant in the opposite direction when you hugged him, as if some proof of independence. we used to have staring-competitions from time to time. i always won. he would blink first :-)
and unlike my other dogs, i never kissed him on the head, rather on the side of his cheek. he´d snap otherwise.
he died this morning 24 June of old age.
almost 24 hours earlier my second-oldest dog, Yuki, was put to sleep. he had a tumour, discovered earlier this week. Yuki was like a miniature german shepherd: same fluffy thick coat and tail, but with short legs. we had named them both after two neighbouring Amerindian tribes. Yuki was closer to me cf. Shasta. we spent far more time together. in one anothers´ company. sometimes i thought he knew me better than i knew myself :-)
we "talked" in Spanish; he would come to sit with me in my sad moments; and spent a lot of time by my side as i wrote my masters thesis back in SA in 2004/early-2005. the last time i saw him was in april 2006. he was laying on the bed. always when i called him he would come to me quickly. that time however he just lay there, looking at me "de reojo". he wasn´t ill then. no. but he knew i was leaving again. he saw me packing my suitcase. so, noticing that, he wasn´t too interested in coming closer. but i insisted, feigning insult, saying "Yuki? Dáme un beso!" (Yuki, give me a kiss). he got up, looking at once shy and reluctant the way a teenage boy might when his mother tries to kiss him in front of the school gate. and i kissed him on the forehead, the way i always had.
so, RIP
Yuki 20 March 1995 - 23 June 2007
Shasta 9 August 1994 - 24 June 2007
posted by Jennifer A. DeBeer @ 09:33
2 Comments:
Oh, what a sweet relationship with your friends.
hello there. im really sorry to read about the loss of your dogs. i know how much they meant and will always mean to you. they are resting now.
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