Her name was Rosie. We briefly considered Ruthie, but Rosie was the only name that suited her and the only one she ever answered to.
The puppy belonged to a family who rented space on our farm for their trailer. She was a somewhat stocky black and tan creature with an adorable face in which each side mirrored the other. A single off-white line ran down the middle of her nose, cleanly dividing the identical halves. With matching tan splotches centered above her milky brown eyes, she appeared to have eyebrows that gave her a constant look of surprise, or at least of polite interest. She was very symmetrical.
Adopted, or purchased, from somewhere around Guntersville, she was supposed to be Australian shepherd, but I suspect she only walked past a dog of that breed once or twice. Admittedly, her coloring suggested that lineage, but nothing else about her did.
The two children in Rosie’s adoptive family must not have been nearly as entertaining to her as my husband, who became her fast friend for horse feeding duties or the occasional under-the-truck oil change. I think her favorite was the truck work, which put her on eye level with her bestie. With unerring accuracy, she could discern his truck engine slowing for the turn, giving her a head start up the gravel drive to the hallway of the barn. She always got there first, the stump of her tail wagging her entire rear end from side to side as she steamrolled hissing barn cats in every direction.
Halfheartedly shooing her away, he was fooling no one, least of all Rosie. She loved him long before he loved her, but he came around with time.
Not at all mistreated, she was still clearly destined to be a mama of puppies who would also be labeled Australian shepherd and traded among the community of Mennonites. At worst, she would end up quick roadkill or die of worms. At best, she would be overlooked as she outgrew the cute puppy stage, living under the trailer porch and chasing trucks for entertainment until she finally chose the wrong one. Either way, the end result would likely be a short life.
But that day in June, she chose the right truck to chase. Glancing in the rearview mirror as the pickup gathered speed, Jenn noticed little Rosie, trying to keep pace with the truck but losing distance no matter how much she pushed herself. The truck belonged to her best friend, and I guess she had just decided to once and for all join the family that was not her own.
“Mom, if you want that puppy, you’d better do something now. She’s chasing the truck and going to get run over,” was all it took.
I gathered up what cash I could find, $50 in all, and met the girls at the farm with an open dog crate in the back of the SUV. I was hopeful and determined.
Little Katie met me in the front yard, scooping Rosie up in a challenging one-armed stance as I asked her if she would think about letting me buy Rosie. She seemed to consider it briefly, maybe just to please me, before shaking her head no. I tried another tack.
“Is your mom home?”
Susie lumbered down the trailer steps to stand beside Katie and exchange pleasantries before we got down to business. Katie again refused to consider giving Rosie up, as Susie simply eyed the cash that was fanned out in my hand. After reminding Katie that she very much needed a new pair of shoes, Susie closed the deal and Katie really didn’t seem to mind. Rosie left the farm for the last time, this time inside a vehicle instead of kicking up dust behind it.
She joined a backyard pack of two other dogs, none of which we paid for. We’ve never been short on dogs but Rosie is the only one we’ve actually paid money for in quite some time. She was also the only non-purebred, unless anyone actually believed that she was Australian shepherd. Tucker, the border collie, was a gift from a cow herding friend, and Duchess was a retired bird dog. Rosie was just glad to be included and to sleep in her own kennel at night.
With time, we lost Duchess to heart failure and we scooped Charlie up from the ditch into which he had been deposited by someone with a heart ten sizes too small. Charlie gave Rosie a run for the money in the cloudy lineage area, pretty well matching her in the devotion and gratitude typical of dogs who somehow believe they really don’t deserve what they have.
Never a morning went by when she was let loose from her kennel that she didn’t fling her little fat self at my face and shower me with Rosie kisses, most landing in one or both ears. Her nose was the perfect fit for an eye socket, as well. Like it had been formed for just that purpose. All I ever had to do was to ask for more Rosie kisses and she was happy to oblige.
She had an art of blending in, so that she appeared to be nothing special. When the others collected on the patio to howl at approaching sirens, she followed suit, adding her shrill wail to the mix. When movement at the fence attracted attention, she was deep in the mix of noses to the ground and flinging of dirt. Her short stature ensured that she was sometimes even lost to sight amidst her much taller yard mates.
Probably her favorite activity of all time, other than throwing Rosie kisses, was eating. I don’t raise skinny animals, but I probably should have stopped long before I did where Rosie was concerned. Occasional walks in the park with frequent rest stops became her somewhat exercise regimen, resulting in a dog so fit that she could actually jump up onto the car floorboard from ground level with no assistance at all.
Rosie earned her keep for life the day Duchess and Tucker found an opening in the backyard fence and vanished. By the time I knew they were gone, the only remaining backyard occupant was Rosie. She was probably too fat to fit through the break in the fence but I’d like to believe she was just that loyal.
With little Rosie on a leash and tracking, we crossed a couple of ditches to a wooded area several lots away. Through the underbrush I caught sight of Tucker, the purebred border collie on seizure medication who reads minds, determined to do the exact opposite of what you’re thinking. Unable to coax him out of the weeds, I channeled the Pied Piper and turned Rosie for home as if we really didn’t care. She played along, like my magic flute, and all we had to do was leave the gate open for the stragglers to mosey on through. And then we fixed the hole in the fence for good.
While we were fixing things, I wish we had also underpinned the porch on the high-dollar dog house—or outbuilding—as State Farm prefers to call it. Rosie was again not a player the day Tucker and Charlie mercilessly cornered an errant possum who sought refuge under the porch of their home. Becoming wedged between the floor joists under the porch with the possum, they couldn’t back up and they couldn’t go forward. The possum, of course, could come and go as he pleased. Rosie just hung out on the topside, keeping them company while waiting for help, I suppose. That help came from a very aggravated husband with a skill saw who cut an opening through the porch, positioned just right and just large enough to heave each dog through. We patched the floor and underpinned the dog house for the first and last time, with anchored concrete pavers reinforced with still more stacked concrete. Grass doesn’t grow there anymore.
The aggravated husband was quick to point out that his Rosie had been too smart to join the fray either time. I think she was just too fat to fit under the porch or through the fence, but he can believe what he likes.
I miss those Rosie kisses. The kisses that never dry. I prefer not to think about the day the veterinarian advised us to take her home to say our goodbyes. She explained that advanced kidney disease never has a good outcome and even catching it earlier wouldn’t have changed anything. We might get another month with her, but it wouldn’t be a good one for her, so of course we made the most painful decision in any dog lover’s life. We let her go. After 12 incredibly short years, we let her go.
But not before I asked for and got one more Rosie kiss. And this time, I gave her one in return.