I found Dora three years ago at about this time while bird watching in Sanger, Texas on the Lake Ray Roberts Greenbelt. She followed me around the whole day and I told myself that if she stayed with me until I got done birding, I would take her home and try to find her an owner. Well, that owner ended up being me. Over the years she went from being the dog with the funny name with a new home, to the dog with the funny toe that rolled in horse shit every time she stayed at my parents place, to the dog who absolutely hated the mailman and couldn't stop digging in my compost. So, to explain her lifeline. Her name: My Spanish-challenged self assumed that since El Dorado means the golden road, Dorado must mean gold, since she was golden and a female I figured I could add an "a" at the end to make it feminine and call her Dorada (Dora for short). So, first she got a stupid name, then moved to Corpus with us. Funny toe: Playing with our friends dog Tlaloc, and probably her only dog friend bigger than her, she tore the tendons on her middle toe. So, it healed funny and was always kind of looked weird and made a weird clicking noise when she would walk on our hard wood floors. Hating the mailman: Every since we moved to Austin she just despised all the mail carriers. Also, she wouldn't stop digging in my compost even when I put a fence around it, so I just figured she was turning it for me and let her at it.
Dora passed yesterday afternoon out at my parent’s house in Sanger. She was hit by a UPS truck, shortly after arriving out there to play on the “farm” while Julie and I were going to Mexico, which I find ironic since a year ago at this time she bit a mail carrier. Man, Karma is a bitch! My sisters and mother rushed her to the vet, but she did not make it. Luckily she died even before the UPS man could put her in the back of my sister’s car, so she did not suffer much, if any. Julie and I drove out there last night and buried her in my parents pasture. My family build a very nice box for her while we were driving and we put her favorite things in there with her. The top of the box read "Dora...from Sanger", it was an extremely thoughtful gesture. If you don’t know, I found Dora out in Sanger during Christmastime three years ago, and now during this Christmastime I buried her three miles from where I found her. Although way too early, I find the situation quite fitting.
For someone who doesn't have kids and I will quickly admit I haven't had many hard times in my life, this is pretty tough. But I know everyone loses pets, and it was bound to happen (maybe not in this way). I just hope I gave her a happy life while she was here with us. Thank you everyone who played with her, gave her a scratch or pet on the head, or let their dogs play with her. I know those where her happiest moments. She will be missed greatly, and now I have to do extra work to turn the compost pile.
Dora is survived by her Ma and Pa, and her two brothers of a different species, Zissou and Klaus.
R.I.P.
No comments:
Post a Comment