TODAY THE WORDS are A TRIBUTE TO WHISKERS

TODAY THE WORDS are A TRIBUTE TO WHISKERS. With our latest rescue dog, Buster making a lot of commotion; we get caught up in his antics. He had filled a void in our hearts and Bandit, our rescued Yorkie when Whiskers passed away a few years ago. I thought I would pay a tribute to our Whiskers or as we would teasingly call him our little Wikki man. 

Whiskers came to us by fate. I was brokering group health insurance in Augusta and called on an auto repair business. I had dressed in a suit with heels and was sitting in the waiting room when I saw a sign (which we still have) “Free puppy to a good home” on cardboard attached to the counter. A small bowl of water and food was below. As I waited, the owner came over to me and told me it would be a few minutes before we could meet and oh by the way, “Do you want a dog?” I quickly answered, “No!” since I traveled and we didn’t have a fenced in back yard. I immediately told him, since he did business with my husband through the car business, not to tell Greg about the dog since he had been “hounding” me for one for about a year.

Long story short, and with me not knowing “Whiskers” was behind the door where I was sitting close to it, he opened the door and out came Whiskers. He made the rounds in the room, stopping in front of each person sitting and his tail was wagging whether they were old, young, white, black, or Hispanic. Whiskers loved people and even though he was friendly to all; when he got to my chair; he looked up with his brown eyes at me and claimed me. He sat down and waited. I text Greg and asked, “Do you want a dog?” and my husband didn’t ask what kind, how big, or anything, but immediately text me, “GET THE DOG!!” So off we went, me in my suit and heels with Whiskers in my arms to be our dog. We later heard the stories of how he had been abandoned in the neighbor’s yard with a note, “We can no longer take care of Whiskers. Find him a good home.”

  And now for the rest of the story….We found out Whiskers had seizures and the vet said he was around 1 1/2 years old and was a mixed Terrier and Schnauzer so in other words, a Schnerrier as we like to say. When he was 9 1/2 years old, after being told dogs who have seizures normally live only a few years, we had our last night with a dog who had made our life one adventure after another. He made us smile; he would greet us in the afternoon after being left all day long on his hind legs like a child with his legs uplifted to take me. He entertained and was ready to ride at any given moment. Each seizure would make us wonder if this was the one who would take him from us but after he made it through; he would act as if he was asking us “What happened; I am ready to play!” Oh how we enjoyed our Whiskers. He and Bandit played and in the end, Bandit came and gave Whiskers some ear sugar as if he was telling him it was okay. He stayed close until Whiskers took his final ride to the sky. If we humans would love like dogs love; if we would be unselfish as they are; and if we would be as forgiving as dogs are; life would be a great adventure.