Bower Generation

Bower Generation

Friday, August 12, 2011

Poppy


Per my mother's request I decided that I wanted to blog about our dog Poppy that pasted away 2 weekends ago when I was in Bakersfield visiting. Let me start by saying this dog was given to us by the Robinson family (Stevi and Dani) probably about 11 years ago. They told us she needed a big back yard to roam around in and our Cox farm is always an "open yard" when it comes to dogs. We have never bought a dog ever! They have always either just came up to our yard or been given to us. I guess that goes for the saying "you don't choose the dog, the dog chooses you". Anyways, the Robinsons are big baseball fans so they had named her Dodger, but for some reason when we brought that city dog out to the farm, that name just didn't seem to fit her (or it could have been the fact that my parents are not huge sports fans). Either way we decided we couldn't call her by that. So for the longest time we just called her "puppy dog". Well, knowing the Cox family, we of course have to give every person and animal about fifty nicknames, but for some reason "Poppy" seemed to stick. Now if you have ever seen Poppy you would immedietly notice that she is a little on the "scary side". She sort of looks like a black wolf, just not as big. She had these glowing yellow eyes and a full coat of long black hair. My parents always considered her as a sort of guard dog because most people that came out to the house for the first time, were a little hesitant about getting out of there car. I think the Cooligan guy always made sure to bring treats, just in case. Poppy came at a time when most of us kids were older. I was in junior high and my sisters in high school. Im sure we didnt appreciate her as much as we should have because we were busy trying to be teens. However, for my parents she was a special dog, a guardian, a friend.

Most people know that the dogs out at the farm are given no special treatment besides a few leftovers every now and again. They roam around like free dogs catching rabbits, gophers, mice and squirrels. They have to defend themselves from coyotes or any other preditors. Im sure its the closest thing to heaven for a dog. They arent cooped up in a yard and have an endless supply of dog food that they can munch on at there leisure through out the day. Now when it came to Poppy she was just a quiet dog. I honestly dont remember her ever barking at all (that would be Scooter that did all the barking). She was always rubbing on peoples legs to be petted. We always use to tell her to go away, because she would shed her long black hair all over you. Needless to say she was a good dog, who loved her owners. Now Im sure this isnt really anything of a special sort of dog story. Im pretty sure she never saved someone from drowning or getting attacked by some ferocious animal, but she was indeed special. Especially to my parents.

Well when I was in town for the family reunion two weekends ago we had been noticing that she had been breathing very heavy, but it didnt seem to out of the norm because she had been doing that for a the past few months, but on Sunday morning we knew that she was different. She just couldnt seem to catch her breath. We all knew that it was her time to go, yet we were so thankful that God let it be on a day we would always remember. The day of our family reunion. We watched her curl up in her favorite spot on the back porch. We knew we had to leave and by the time we came back she would have passed. My parents Im sure said there good bye in their own quite way. I didnt realize how sad her death would be until I saw the tears in both my parents eyes. They loved her, she was their dog, their protector for the past 11 years. We came back that afternoon from our reunion. My dad and Adam buried her at the back of the property. We all unexpectedly cried. Floods of emotion came to all of us as we all looked back at the length of time she had been at our home. She was a good dog, a loyal dog. Anyways, not to make this into a sob story, but I think I realized how much dogs really mean so much to their owners and how they truly become part of your family. So here is a little memorial for our Poppy dog that we had for 11 years.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Typical of my mother, she made my dad say a little prayer that they would get a new dog. And wouldnt you know but a few days later. Look what showed up in the yard!





2 comments:

  1. Wow I never thought I would cry over that dog. I'm going to blame it on the pregnancy hormones. Beautiful tribute Rach.

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  2. Definitely blame it on the hormones! Thanks Bon!

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