If You Give A Dog a Donut...

This is one of Kohl's for Kids books and plush animals for this quarter.  I had to have one because it reminds me of Kirby.  When he was a new puppy...about a year old, we had a box of Krispie Kreame donuts.  We didn't feed Kirby any people food and we were very careful to put everything up out of his reach.  Well, except for one morning when I ate a donut in the bedroom and Russ didn't know I had left the box in there and in came Kirby.  He didn't weigh but about ten pounds tops then.

We didn't know that he had helped himself to the donuts at first.  He was running around at warp speed kind of in circles.  LOL  We started looking around and there was the donut box...EMPTY.  It had about 6 glazed donuts and he had woofed them ALL down.  He never threw up (as you would expect)...nope...he just ran in circles for hours.  Talking about a sugar high!!!

So the book says if you give a dog a donut he'll ask for a glass of apple juice.

Nope.  He'll run in circles for hours and from that day forward...he will never be trusted around anything edible.

These are the memories that are so bittersweet.  I laugh and cry at the same time that I think of my little white puppy dog.  He was such a scoundrel.  There was no doubt he knew when he was stealing your sandwich AND he knew he wasn't supposed to do it.  The joy of winning the game was about as important to Kirby as eating your food.  He was always willing to take a scolding because he knew we weren't really mad.  Sometimes he'd run and hide under the bed with his nose sticking out like he was invisible.  He'd wait a few minutes and come out knowing that the most we'd do is say "KIRBY" in an annoyed voice.

I slept with my little stuffed doggie last night and went to bed thinking about Kirby and his donut escapade.  I'm sure I had a smile on my face when I fell asleep.  Sweet memories (pun intended). 

Kirby's Last Update...

Kirby has continued to deteriorate with his eating, diarrhea and willingness to take medicine.  His breathing became weaker this morning and the look in his eyes told us it was time.

This is the last pictures of the three of them together taken this afternoon before we left for Baldwyn.

He hates the 4th of July and the fireworks so today at noon Russ and I decided that we were going to let him go before he had to be tormented with fireworks this week-end.

We went to Corinth to the pet store and bought all of his favorite puppy candies and cookies.  We lay around with him in between the two of us and told him what a wonderful dog he was and how much we loved him and were going to miss him.  Of course, he already knew that.  Russ called Dr. Don and made arrangements for us to bring him to the office at 5:00 right as they closed and we called Glenn Coleman to meet us at the pet funeral home in Oxford.  Then we let the three dogs have some time together, we warmed up the fuzzy blanket in the dryer like Kirby loves and wrapped him in it.  He had been cold feeling all day.  Lots of tears and hugs and into the car for something else Kirby really enjoys...riding on my shoulder and then getting to put his little head out the window when we got almost there. 

We held him while Dr. Don gave the sedation shot and then he left us alone where we loved on Kirby as he was falling asleep and prayed to God thanking him for nine and a half years of having such a wonderful companion.  We wrapped him in his fuzzy blanket and I held him in my lap until we got to Oxford and placed him into Glenn's arms.  Such a blessing to have a former cub scout all grown up and taking care of the most important elements of our life without us having to worry. 

It has been a long, hard month that has seemed like half a year.  We have tried to prepare ourselves for this day since the day we fell in love with Kirby by enjoying him, spoiling him and being thankful for every bit of mischief he was capable of getting into.  We knew one day too quickly we would be saying good-bye to the first dog either Russ or I have ever had.  Still, it did come more quickly than we had thought (about five years) but as much as we will miss him...we loved him too much to keep him here any longer. 

Farewell Kirby Dog...you were our very first case of "puppy love" and we'll never get over it.  Hope you are chasing squirrels up the trees and basking in the sunshine.

KIRBY

January 28, 2006 to July 3, 2015