All Dogs Go to Heaven

"Brandi"

1996-2009

Last week my family suffered a great loss. Our sweet dog, Brandi, lost her battle with osteosarcoma (bone cancer), an aggressive, highly metastatic cancer. With Brandi it came on very quickly and was quite a shock to us all. Within a week she developed a large tumor on her right front leg and lost her ability to walk with that leg. True to form, she was stubborn to the end, and resisted most of our efforts to help her walk, insisting on doing it on her own. When Anthony and I tried to help her walk with the support of towel under her waist, she practically dived onto the pavement. Word has it she only would let my dad pick her up. I wasn't sure if I should admire her independence or be frustrated with her dangerous lack of cooperation.

Brandi wasn't a perfect dog, but she was perfect for our family. She was the friend, companion, and playmate that everyone needed. Part of what made her great was how low-maintenance she was. All she wanted from you was to scratch her ears, take her for a walk, or to gave her some food. She didn't care what you looked like, what grades you got, and was never embarrassed to be seen with you--in fact she loved to be seen with you!

For those of you who never got to know Brandi, I have taken the liberty of compiling a list of random facts about her to help you feel like you did know her, because chances are, I will talk about her at some point around you.

Likes:

• long walks
  
• barking at smaller animals
  
• chasing frisbees
  
• bread
  
• meat or any food scavenged from the kitchen/trash
• scratches
  
• riding in the car
  
• The words walk, outside, treat, food, and leash

Dislikes:

• any animal within a visible distance (esp. small dogs)
• grapes, lettuce or any fruit/vegetable
  
• her attention collar (AKA muzzle)
  
• being left out (gates of any kind)
  
• baths
  
• loud noises (thunder, fireworks, etc.)
• people touching her whiskers or paws

I like to think that Brandi was fiercely loyal and didn't like anyone messing with her peeps. She would always act agitated and bark really loud in an angry fashion when people did much hugging or picking each other up. But maybe she just hated PDA, although I never thought picking up another adult was a sign of affection. Anthony found this to be particularly funny so he would like to give me bear hugs and pick me up to get a rise out of her.

Anyways, I could ramble on for awhile with stories about Brandi, so I will end with this. When I was young I was scared of dogs. I was scared of their barks and afraid they would bite me. Brandi was a sweet dog, who was generally cheerful and loved being social. She was (usually) nothing like the dogs I was scared of in my childhood. Brandi is a dog that will be sorely missed by all who knew her (except our neighbor's dog).