My co-worker slobbers all over me sometimes and gets in my personal space at other times.
Of course, I’m talking about my hairy, four-legged co-worker Weiss, the lovable St. Bernard who spends his days at the offices of The Outlook enjoying his toys, being spoiled with treats, and jumping at the chance to meet new faces who come into the shop. As a dog lover all my life, Weiss has free reign to get all up in my space any time he so chooses. A quick belly rub and a scruffy head waggle can sometimes make all the difference between a drab day at work and a more enjoyable one. It makes you realize the simple power that animals have at unintentionally manipulating our human emotions.
I so vividly remember the likes of Himson the cat, as well as all the dogs that have lived in our home over the years. Himson was a Siamese breed cat that had a long life, all the way up to the age of 17 years before his untimely passing in the summer of 2005. Unfortunately, old Himson didn’t hear or just didn’t get out fast enough from under my dad’s diesel truck, but at least it was a quick exit from this planet for the old timer. I know Dad felt horrible for what he’d done, which of course was purely by a terrible accident. The truth was that Himson had gotten up there in age and the years had caught up to him. I actually remember an incident where I watched him saunter into my bedroom from my point of view in the living room, stick around for a few moments and then make his exit. I was perplexed, so I went to my room to see what had caused Himson to leave so quick. It turns out that he’d, um, relieved himself on the carpet instead of going downstairs to his litterbox. He’d never done that before, and I took it as a sign of both old age and something likely wrong with his inner plumbing. His death wasn’t long after this incident. In one way or another, perhaps it was for the best.
When it comes to dogs, I have such deep-rooted memories that I remember not only years, but specific months and days. I remember Heidi the St. Bernard coming to live with us in March of 1994, and I believe it was TeleMiracle weekend in the province, if memory serves me correct. Heidi’s owner was an old man who, I kid you not, actually had a hook for a hand. He was giving her away because he couldn’t give her the care that she needed, so she came to live with us. We loved having her and Heidi was great with my brothers and I, but she did have a problem with other kids and basically anyone who didn’t live in the Ruttle household. I wish I could say we had Heidi for a long time, but just two years later she had developed something that I can’t explain and had stopped eating. We came home from school one day and Mom had to break the news to us that Dad had taken Heidi to the vet in order for her to go to ‘Doggie Heaven’.
Not long after that, Bud came into my life. I bought Bud, a Black Labrador/Shepherd mix, for $40 from a Saskatoon woman who was selling off a litter of puppies. The two of us were almost inseparable from the very beginning. Bud was there from my first day of high school at the age of 12, all the way up to the near-beginning of my last year of high school. Sadly, a vet visit uncovered early stages of cancer in Bud, and I had to make the decision to prevent his future suffering by letting him take the ride on that rainbow bridge. Heck, even Dad cried on the day he and Mom were to take Bud back down to the vet for the last time.
Kola, another Black Labrador mix, was the last dog that our family has had to date. She entered our lives in April of 2005 and lived a very long and loving life before she too had a fateful visit to the vet that uncovered a grim fate in February of 2016. I remember that weekend so clearly. We’d noticed that every time Kola would get up from a nap, she’d have a terrible coughing fit that would eventually subside, and I guess we managed to convince ourselves that it was nothing too serious. But it was, and I elected to be the one nestled beside her as she took her final breaths. I felt I owed it to her.
Animals are such powerful beings, and what’s truly amazing about them is they have no such idea that they even HAVE such power over us. They elicit so many emotions out of us and give us so much joy. Heck, my neighbor from across the back alley has a cat that for the last six months or so – at least until the snow fell – had made daily treks to our back deck to see me. I looked forward to those visits, and I hope they continue after the winter takes a hike.
In the times we’re living in right now, where it seems we’re falling two steps back after trying to forge one step ahead, we have to enjoy what we have. Or, in the case of our four-legged friends, enjoy who we have.
For this week, that’s been the Ruttle Report.
