Mowgli
September 7, 1994-April 13, 2009
We said good-bye to Mowgli, our 14.5-year-old miniature dachshund yesterday. We've had that little guy almost as long as we've been married, and longer than we've had children. Joe bought him for me for my college graduation in December 1994. He was a snuggly, sweet little 5-pound puppy that melted my heart immediately! Of course, I was working in a vet's office as a surgery assistant, so he had top notch medical care. We treated him like a baby. He slept in our bed, ate by us at dinner (on the floor, we weren't completely insane) and was treated like royalty. Until January 1996, that is. At that point he began to slip down the totem pole of our lives until after our third child was born, he was officially "the dog." I'm sure he wondered about his demotion, but you'd never know. He protected each of the babies, positioning himself between the sleeping baby on the couch and the front door. When cars would pass, he'd let out a low growl, just as a warning but not loud enough to wake the baby. He taught each of them to crawl by lying just out of reach, wagging his tail, so that each one would strive to get to him. As a baby, Brad made a regular effort to suck on Mowgli's tail, which if we hadn't bathed Mowgli so often, would be really, really gross. Actually, it's still gross. But Mowgli was a little four-legged family member, and we all loved him...I guess even germophobic I was able to look past that.
He used to sit up and beg, almost for the entire duration of our meals. Occasionally he'd tip over, but he sit right back up again as quickly as possible. Only my mother-in-law actually rewarded him at the table for this, and he was very, very grateful to her. :) He developed a fondness for wrapped presents and every Christmas would wait in anticipation for his gift. He'd wrestle the paper gently in his teeth and tear it from his gift...and then seem a bit disappointed when the paper was off. I got in the habit of buying a package of rawhides and wrapping them individually so he could unwrap each one. This past Christmas he did not open his presents, and we were all sad...we knew those days had passed. We will miss him very much, but especially at Christmas.
One other very funny thing Mowli did was make his "peanut butter face." When he'd eat peanut butter, his face would stick in this crazy position.
We love you, little guy. Rest in peace. And yes, we think dogs go to heaven. :)
