Goodbye, my friend.

sorry to hear about Soda Pup,sounds like a great dog with a really cool name.

 

Tommy:

I had to have my cat put down this week, as well, after 14 years of loving companionship. I work at home, and it feels emptier than you can imagine without him yelping to sit on my lap as I write.
You have my sympathy, and my empathy.

TB

 

i had a mixed breed german shepherd in college, skippy, for one year year before i ended up having to give her away. at least i thought i had to. worst decision of my life; still haunts me. now we have "shockey," a little guy with nothing but affection for all.

i can't watch "my dog skip" without losing it every time, yet i can't change channels, either. as much work as dogs are they are simply the greatest by far.

i'm glad we've given the boys a chance to experience having a dog and a cat, both of whom they adore. and i dread the day shockey, now 7, goes off to doggy heaven. i'll be a wreck.

so i feel and share your pain.

my "skippy" story. i found her in the summer of '77 when i was working at a hotel in the catskills. her tail was between her legs, she had clearly been abused and it was all we could do to lure her towards us to offer some food and water.

within a few days, meals and a bath, we started gaining her trust. first we took her to the local vet, who let us know she was pregnant, too. he terminated the pregnancy and cleaned her up best he could but wasn't sure she could be brought back to her original spirit.

well, much love and attention from myself and the other athletic staff members brought he all thr way back, indeed. i was the one who adopted her, volunteering to take her back to school. she was my second roommate my senior year, loved by all my suitemates and enjoyed having the run of campus.

heck, more people knew "skippy" than knew me. and she was a babe magnet, too.

anyway, i graduate and go back to the catskills for one more summer of fun before the real world. second day back, someone reports to the hotel manager that i've got a dog on the grounds! probably a new maid or something. anyway, i'm told either the dog goes or we both go.

i freakin' panicked. my folks adored skippy, too, but had made it clear she was my dog and wanted no part of keeping her in their two-bedroom apartment. and i thought i needed this stupid job. so we took her to the local animal shelter and i filled out the forms giving her up for adoption.

by the time i got back to the hotel i was a mess. compounded by having my best bud there -- a best bud to this day -- look at me incredulously and say, "i can't believe you gave up skippy."

that was it. i called my folks on a payphone and blubbered what had happened. natch, my folks said, "what are you, nuts! of course we'll take skippy for the summer."

so back off to the shelter we sped. i dunno, maybe 3 hours had passed from when i had dropped her off. and we were told she had already been adopted by a young couple with a 5-year-old boy.

that was that. i rationalized that skippy put on a good show for the family and they couldn't resist her, and that they gave her a great life.

but the hole in my heart is forever. heck, i'm tearing up while typing this. biggest mistake of my life. :'( :'( :'(

oh, and td, soda pup was one lucky dog to have your fam caring for him all those years.

 

I've told this story before but here's how he got his name:

When he was a puppy, we weren't sold on a name for him just yet. Some wanted to call him Blackie, some wanted to call him Midnight.

Week went by and I was sitting in the living room with my brother and a very young pup came up to me. I was drinking a coke, from a can, and the dog started to lick the outside of the can for the condensation that was accumlating on it from a very hot summer day.

I then proceeded to have the greatest dog name brainstorm I ever had. Soda Pup. My brother wanted to call him Soda Pop, but Soda Pup did indeed win everyone over and thus a great dog was named.

 

did he respond tp "sodapup," "soda" and "pup?" or just one?

 

Soda and Sodapup. And also the always great SODAPOPPERS!

 

Thats a great story. I was going to ask if he was named after the character in The Outsiders.

 

As someone who's lost three, thank you for the words.