My Basset Hound, Timi

I haven't published in a little while.  I guess life happened, and I got caught up in it.  But, out of all the things that have happened, the biggest and saddest is the passing of my baby, my Basset Hound, Timi.

My 14 year-old Basset Hound, Timi
1998-2012

Timi and I had been together for 14 years this Thanksgiving.  She was 14 years and 1 month old... and I am just heartbroken.  She has been with me through so much!  We have moved, we have had bad breakups, illnesses... she'd let me dress her up for Halloween and Christmas.  We slept together in the same bed until my husband came along 6 years ago... She was our Celestine, as it was because of her that we met and fell in love.  (I think he fell in love with her first...)

Timi would lick my tears when I was sad and howl when I sang.  I would sing to her "You are my Sunshine" almost every day as I caressed her fur, and every morning I would say "Good morning, morning!" to her and she would stretch her front paws, wag her tail and lick my face like saying "Good morning to you too!".

She was my kitchen assistant too.  She would lick the floor clean when I was cooking and something would fall to the floor.  She loved baby carrots and we bought it by the big bags at Costco, just for her.  She knew when I was peeling potatoes, and would sit at my feet waiting for a piece of potato to fall.  Most times, I would just give it to her.

My Basset was allergic to the Christmas tree, to cats and pork.  She would sit, stay, roll over, give you her right paw (or the left one, if asked) and lay down.  And she would do all of them one right after the other for a baby carrot.  Her favorite person, other than me, of course, was my little brother Julian.  They were born 4 days apart... he doesn't know life without her, and he's heartbroken as well.

Timi would bring you her toy, the ball or her doll, and knew which one was which.  She would eat peanuts in their shell and amazingly  she would eat the peanut and leave the shell.  Oh, and she could eat a lollipop!  But never the stick.  If you gave her a wrapped candy, somehow she'd unwrap it and eat the candy and leave the wrapper.  "Cookie!" was her favorite word!  She learned that word the first day I brought her home.  Along with her name.  Cookie was anything that was a treat:  baby carrots, biscuits, a Cameo cookie...

She was smart.  The smartest dog I've ever had.  She loved her Papa, too.  "Where's Papa, Timi?" and she would run to him if he was home, or run to the door if he wasn't, thinking that he was about to walk in.  When he first moved in with us, they had to fight for their side of the bed.  You see, she had been sleeping with me on the bed for 8 years prior to him... so, it took a while for her to let him on HER side of the bed.  It was funny.  Very funny.  Eventually she relented, but then she would sleep next to him in the bed, as if saying, "we can share..."

I have so many great memories of my Timi.  She was the best gift life has given me.  And I am grateful I got to share all of the things I did with her by my side.  Always counting on that loud welcome every day from work, that cold nose in the middle of the night, or a lick to lick away my tears.  This time however, my tears are for her.  I just miss my dog.