Vera passed on June 26, 2019, about 3:45, in her favorite chair, at home. Estimated to be 15/16 years of age. A great friend and companion, she always wanted to be where the people were. It was easy to forget she wasn’t a human. Her favorite things were lying in the sun by the back door in the morning, thrashing through the bushes in the back yard chasing scents, avoiding the lawn entirely, her Kong toy (especially when I filled it with cold cheese tortellini) and meeting other dogs.
One of the funniest memories I have of her was the first day I brought her home. I didn’t know she was an expert at slipping her collar… I decided to take her for a walk around the neighborhood… got to the driveway and she spotted two ducks on the lawn (yeah… don’t ask), spun around and yanked, next thing I knew I was holding a leash with an empty collar, and she was chasing two airborne ducks. I thought “great, you have the dog for 30 minutes and she runs away. They’ll love this.” I got in the car, and found her at the end of the street when I pulled around the corner… the house had a tight juniper hedge, groomed to border the sidewalk. Apparently they included a wiggling dog butt in the design. Half of her was in the hedge, the other half standing on the sidewalk, I assume there was a bird or a rat or something in there she was after. I walked over and tapped her on the butt… she backed out of the hedge and looked at me like, “oh, hi.” Then she saw the car sitting there and ran over and jumped in, ready to go back home, like this was just everyday stuff for her. The guy that lived there must’ve loved the hole she left in the bushes… I should have paid more attention when her foster mom told me she spent three hours trying to catch her over at the beach the day before. She’s left a hole in my life.
– Ron
