Our Popcorn

 

Almost 17 years ago, my children were little and our adorable black and white, half poodle, half yorkie ~ a cute little girl dog, Pumpkin, died.  We were heart broken.  My husband and I bought Pumpkin when we were first married and had our first home.  She was part of our family before we had children.  She was a great dog, loving and fun and always good company ~ she went from being the star of our home, to a happy buddy for our children. 

Pumpkin died a few short months before we were to leave for a family vacation.  Although we knew we wanted to have another dog in the house, as a family we decided to wait until after our vacation.  We didn’t think it was fair to bring a new puppy into the house only to kennel her for 10 days almost immediately after bringing her home.  This plan was in stone……

That was summertime, 1996.  In those days, we belonged to a swim club near our home as it was prior to us building our pool in our backyard.   It was a warm, wonderful summer and every day possible we would go to the club and sit with friends, enjoying the sunshine, the camaraderie and the pool.  My son and daughter had fun with children their age and I sat with my good friend Robin, and another wonderful woman, Beth. 

On day, early in the summer, Beth mentioned that her Maltese just had a litter of puppies.  Growing up, I had two Maltese dogs (both female), Chi Chi and Cutie Pi.  Unfortunately, Chi Chi died young, but Cutie Pi was my buddy all through my years growing up.  Cutie Pi was my friend, my confidant, and I loved her.  Maltese dogs are cute, small, happy and adorable. 

I had an instant premonition that our plan of not having another dog before our Florida vacation was quickly vanishing. 

In trying to think of a way out, a way I would not be tempted, I told Beth that I definitely wanted a female dog as I had always heard horror stories of boy dogs damaging furniture.  I don’t know where I got that idea, but it was in my head.  When Beth said she had a female for sale, I knew I was in deep trouble. 

With the idea of “just visiting” the puppies, we all went to “see” them that night.  We drove up to Beth and Marc’s home and as they opened the door the cutest sight hit us.  There were little balls of fluffy white, tails wagging, slight yapping and lots of jumping all around us.  Beth led us to her den where a child’s playpen was set up.  Inside the playpen were the puppies for sale. (The ones yapping and playing all around us were Beth’s own Malteses’, the parents of the puppies in the playpen)!

In the corner was a very cute little female puppy. She was sitting calmly, nestled against the weave of the playpen.  We tried to pick her up, but this other little dog, a male, “Mr. Piggy” Beth called him because of his amazing appetite, kept getting in the way!  Gently we pushed Mr. Piggy aside as we ABSOLUTELY did not want a male dog.  The female tried to evade us, meanwhile, Mr. Piggy was jumping all around, wagging his tale, running to Michael then to Lauren, looking at us and just being generally Mr. Personality if not Mr. Piggy! 

I did not want a male dog.  That was certain.

Beth picked up the female and brought her to us.  I already had a name in mind, Sweetie Pi….in keeping with my Maltese, Cutie Pi.  We held the little, tiny girl Maltese and tried to play with her, but she truly had no interest.  Meanwhile, there hopped Mr. Piggy!  He jumped over to my son and licked his hand!  He then bounced over to my daughter and sat near her, his tail flapping happily from side to side.

Needless to say, we bought Mr. Piggy.  Beth promised (and kept her promise) to babysit him during our Florida vacation so we didn’t have to kennel him.  I went home with a happy family, and an ecstatic male Maltese.

The rest of that day and that night we couldn’t get over the personality this little puppy possessed.  He was just so cute.  But, we had one more issue, a name.  Since he was a boy, Sweetie Pi just didn’t seem appropriate.  Although Mr. Piggy was a cute name, we wanted to choose his name ourselves.  Hercules, Kiwi and Paul were top contenders, but somehow, they just didn’t seem right.  As we threw names out and while we were making signs for a garage sale we were holding that weekend, my son decided it was time to make all of us a snack.  Popcorn.   Popcorn!!  Popcorn!!!!  The perfect name for this cute, white, fluffy, happy puppy previously named Mr. Piggy!! 

Well, that was almost 17 years ago.  Today, as I’ve written before, Popcorn is still here.  He may have a weak heart, no teeth, can’t see well and doesn’t hear much…. but he is still here.  He has accidents and has ruined our carpet, but he doesn’t seem to be in any physical pain.  We love him.  He is the last of his litter to still be alive.  He has kept us company through good and bad times.  He has played joyfully and eaten heartily, but now he mostly sleeps.  Popcorn was once the cutest, happiest, most fun dog, a male dog who never damaged one piece of furniture, but now he is old, tired and sometimes a bit cranky. 

How do we know when, if ever, the time is right to compassionately put him to sleep?  How do we even consider such a thing, even though most people we know seem to think it is the right thing to do at this time?  I asked a vet that came into the store where I work the other day and he simply said we would know; he said there is no right answer.  But, then Poppy, as we sometimes call him, will have a coughing fit.  He will arch his back and stretch his leg in a weird, stiff, uncomfortable looking way.  Is he in pain?  He doesn’t yelp.  How do we know, are we being selfish?  Should we just let nature take its course? 

Looking at Popcorn now, it is miraculously easy to look beyond his weaknesses and remember the happy little bouncy puppy that seemed to dance before us with a top hat and cane, tempting us to take him home and become part of our family.  Our going with our hearts at that time was one of our most wonderful decisions even though it went against everything we had sworn we would do.

So, I guess that tells me that the decision to make now is to go with our hearts.  Our hearts say, stay Poppy.  Stay until you show us, and we know it’s time you want to go.  You showed us it was right to take you home years ago and I have to believe you will let us know when you want us to let you go now.

You have been such a great friend and such an important part of our family, Popcorn.  We love you.