R.I.P. Snoopy

It's with a heavy heart that I update the blog today, as I heard from my Mom that our family dog Snoopy passed away around 5:30 this morning. My parents brought Snoopy home from the dog pound when I was a sophomore in college and she lived an extraordinarily long life for a dog, particularly for a dog living in the country. Consider that my niece Laura who is currently a junior in high school was not born yet when Snoopy became a member of the family and that gives you an idea how long she was alive. While we were lucky to have her with us for so long, it makes it that much harder to say goodbye.

Neither I nor any of my siblings lived at our parents' homes during Snoopy's life, but she was an easy dog to grow attached to. She welcomed all visitors into the household, greeting us with a wagging tail and an accepting nature-a great watch dog she was not. She was the first dog allowed to live in the home while we were on the farm and she quickly grew accustomed to the easy life. We liked to joke that not only had she replaced me in the home, but she was even more spoiled than I was. Shortly after arriving, Snoopy commandeered the loveseat in the living room as her spot and defended through contstantly shedding her hair and pouting with her big brown eyes if anyone dared sit on her bed.

Snoopy's spot:

Snoopy was always an active dog, particularly in her youth when her boundless energy was well suited to running all over the spacious farm, pasture, and countryside. She grew up alongside many of my nieces and nephews, enduring patiently their energy and rowdy behavior. After a weekend where they visited, she would lay on her loveseat for days recovering from the commotion. As Snoopy aged, she slowed down and we could see the signs of age-her tan coat becoming lighter with gray hair, her hearing and eyesight growing weaker (although we decided the hearing loss was selective), her bones showing a stiffness that indicated she was no longer a spry pup. Even so, Snoopy was always game for an adventure, whether it was walking around the block (at my parents, the "block" is about 4 miles long) or hiking through the pasture and woods. Just last year, Snoopy was perplexing my Mom by escaping from her dog kennel when she would go to work. It turns out that Snoopy was jumping over the 5' tall fence that surrounded the kennel and proving that old dogs can indeed have new tricks.

Another favorite spot of Snoopy's:

Snoopy witnessed many additions to the Stokes family, in the form of nieces, nephews, boyfriends, and girlfriends and also was a part of the family when our Dad passed away in 2004. They were great friends and my Dad loved to spoil Snoopy, such as in the summer when he would make an ice cream cone for her, hold it while Snoopy licked away, and when she reached the cone letting Snoopy finish it off in two quick bites. As with the rest of the family, Snoopy was visibly upset when my Dad left this earth, and she developed an aversion to crossing under electric fences at that time (it had never been a problem before) something we're still trying to figure out.

The proud old girl enjoying some grooming:

One last story I want to share with you is about my farewell to Snoopy this summer. Right before going to Peru, I spent three days at my Mom's. One of my toughest goodbyes was to Snoopy who I knew in her advanced age might not make it to the next time I visited despite her decent health. My favorite activity with Snoopy was always taking her for walks and for the first two days we did our typical 1 mile roundtrip walk along the county road that runs past my parent's home. Even though the days were warm, Snoopy struggled and labored on the walks like never before, indicating to me that she was feeling her age. On the third day, I had decided I was going to take her on a short little walk, perhaps to the mailbox or the creek that runs next to the farm. When I went to get her that morning though, she was nowhere to be found and my thoughts turned to the worst-perhaps she had went off to the field to lay down and wasn't getting back up. Beside myself with worry, I had to stop looking and get ready for Church. I showered, headed upstairs, and there was Snoopy lying in the middle of my bedroom floor, looking very old and fragile. I was able to gently coax her downstairs, headed to Church with my Mom, and spent the first part of Church wondering if she was going to make it. The second part of Church was spent wondering where she had hidden (both my Mom and I had explored all the rooms upstairs) and if maybe Snoopy had fooled me. On the drive home from Church, my Mom and I figured out that Snoopy must have slipped underneath the tight clearance between my bed frame and the floor and hid from me while I was looking to take her for a walk. As we pulled into the driveway, we could see Snoopy and the old, fragile dog was nowhere to be found. She was leaping and jumping as the car headed down the driveway, with a big grin on her face which seemed to tell me 'I fooled you one more time'.

If indeed there is a dog heaven, I believe Snoopy is already comfortably there, despite her rowdy youth when she treated some cats roughly, harrassed some cows in the pastures, and occasionally stole cookies from young nieces and nephews' hands. I picture her hopping through fields of tall grass like a kangaroo, which was her unique style in her youth. She was a wonderful dog, a gentle, fun, and loving dog that even people who didn't care for dogs couldn't help but love. We'll miss her a great deal, but we are thankful she gave us so many good memories over the years.