Roxy - A Tribute

September 13, 2009 ~
It was a wet and dull Sunday, which rightly reflected my mood. Aaron had just found Roxy's body on the road where she'd been hit by a car. She was dead. I think we were all in shock throughout that day.

Roxy was a unique dog in that she had a rare, beautiful and gentle disposition. She was very obedient, and loved best to simply lay her head on my thigh and stay there while I stroked her. If I lapsed, she'll dig her nose under my hand, raise it up and throw it on her back, as if to say: "keep stroking me...that feels good". She'll always come when I called and was very friendly to everyone. She stood totally still when I bathed her and knew to shake the water off only when I stepped back. She'd even come forward to the towel and stand still so that I should dry her off. We don't have a fence but she knew the perimeters of our yard and will not wonder beyond them when she went out to potty. She was an amazing first dog.

My sister was skeptical about her when she came to see Jayron in August. But by the time she left, she'd come to love Roxy. She was shocked and dismayed when she heard the news. Roxy had a similar effect on Aaron's friends - one of them wanted to adopt Roxy and the other one actually wanted to visit the animal shelter where Roxy came from to see if he could be that lucky. My family in OK loved her too. She only had the most positive effect on people who met her. Her only fault - a doggy one, no doubt - she was easily distracted by people or other animals that went by. And that is probably what caused her to take off that fateful Saturday night.

Once she took off after another dog. Someone who owned a store nearby found her and called me. By the time we went to collect her, she had charmed everyone in the store and was sitting in a lady's lap.

We all miss you terribly, Roxy. A colleague at work gave me a couple of books, one was about Dog Heaven, and the other was a memoir written on behalf of a dog. Both of them made me feel immensely better because they talked about the most amazing things - lots of fields to run around in dog heaven, lots of dog biscuits and puffy clouds for beds, etc. That dogs come back (in spirit, probably) once in a while to check on their loved masters and mistresses and to sniff around their old backyards; they never forget their loved ones; and what's more, they are not afraid of dying because, being wiser than humans, they don't collect things and become attached to them on this earthly plain:) Actually, the dog in the memoir said: "I have little in the way of material things to leave. Dogs are wiser than men. They do not set great store upon things. They do not waste their days hoarding property. They do not ruin their sleep worrying about how to keep the objects they have, and to obtain objects they have not."

Hahahaha!! Funny, isn't it? But clever.

The dog in the memoir also said that loved ones shouldn't mourn him too much because he had always only wanted to be a source of comfort and a reason for added joy in their happiness. I feel that Roxy would have wanted same.

We'll really miss you, Roxy, your gentle disposition and beautiful silver fur and red paws.

Have fun in dog heaven.