My Sparkles

My Sparkles was the best dog that I have ever known. Some of you may not understand the strong attachment and the love I had for this dog and there are those of you who will know exactly what I am talking about.

Sparkles was my Wal-Mart baby. We lived in Warrenton, MO at the time and I would frequently go to Troy, MO to the Super Wal-mart for groceries. It just so happened that on a particular day I would find my dogie soul-mate.

Donnie was gone with his job the first year we were married more then he was home. I had only lived in Warrenton about nine months and I was horribly homesick. It was our time with the kids for the summer and Donnie had to leave a day or two later and the last thing that he said was "I don't want to come home and find that you have gotten a dog" (know at that time we were living on a 300 acre farm with loads of woods and walking trails ......what was he thinking......dogie heaven!!!).

I arrive at Wal-mart armed for some power shopping but as I was entering the store I noticed a family with a sign that said Puppies for free (that was a common practice) but I could hear Donnie in the back of my head " I don't want to come home and find that you have gotten a dog!" and like a good wife I hurried into the store and did my shopping with out stopping to love on the puppies (which was a VERY hard task......I love PUPPIES!!!).

I had made my purchases and I was headed to the car and as I am leaving I see they have one puppy left but I go to the car and I load my sacks of goodies into it.......at this point I am not sure what made me go back to look at that one puppy, it could have been fate, disobedience or good old need to love on a puppy. As I approached the young girl holding the puppy she sets it down on the concrete and it proceeds to pee all over the sidewalk and I think to my self I have to have that puppy!!!!! So I say the words that I knew would defy my husband.....I will take it!!!! That cute little ball of fur that I carried back to my car was scared out of its gourd!!!! I set her in the passengers seat (which would become her seat for many many trips) and I comforted her the whole way home.

The next big step in taking custody of that beautiful little creature was to come up with a name for her...there were the standards thrown out there like Fluffy, Killer and Fido but none of those fit her. After much laboring, my son Andrew goes how about Sparkles because her eyes sparkle....alas we had found her name. What a fitting name....she was the perkiest little puppy and so loving her whole personality just sparkled.

I know you are all wondering what did Donnie say when he found out....well he wasn't exactly thrilled with it until he came home and met her....all it took was one little puppy kiss and he was hooked. She became daddy's Little Princess, when he would come home from a long trip Sparkles would have nothing to do with me, she would look at him with adoring eyes and be as attentive as she could be but if I called her name she just ignored me (Brat!!!)......did she not remember that I was the one that fed her and loved on her all week while he had deserted us??!!! Needless to say Sparkles was my girl as well, my buddy my pal, she went with me everywhere I went, in the wintertime I would take her shopping (she loved to go!!!) and she would wait patiently as I did my errands but she always knew there would be a treat for her at the end of our tiring day.

Sparkles would love to stick her head out the window and feel the wind blow in her face and she would get so excited when she recognized where she was going. She was very attentive and extra loving on those dark days when life was not exceptionally kind. Sparkles loved to run the trails in the woods and chase squirrels or any other thing that moved (deer were not excluded in this) and after a long chase it was always rewarded with a swim in the pond. She would run in the tall grass and every once in a while she would bounce up like she had landed on a spring....she made us laugh!!!

Our Warrenton oasis was also a deer hunter's dream, our landlord had deer stands strung throughout the property. There was also a shop that had a place for gutting the hunter's prizes. It did not take long for Sparkles to figure that out.......she came home with a prize one fall morning as well. I had let Sparkles out for her morning relief and when I went to the back door to let her in she had brought me a prize........one giant bloody deer heart.....you would have thought she had just won the Dogbone of the year award she was so happy with her find.

Biscuit and Sparkles......now that is love!!!

Like all good things our time with Sparkles was inevitably going to have to come to an end. In the latter part of her 8th year we had to say good bye to our Sparkles, her little body had gotten sick and there was nothing we could do for her but love her enough not to see her suffer, so the decision was made she would be released to go run in that big field in the sky. To this day I still come home and find that something is missing. We have 3 other dogs but they are not the same, she was special. She taught me that life is to be enjoyed, give everyone a smile, always listen, sometimes we need to just stick our heads out the window as we are driving along and feel the wind blow on our face and we need to run and bounce because not only is it good for our bodies it is good for our souls.

To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace. ~Milan Kundera

Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made. ~Roger Caras

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive. ~Gilda Radner