Memories of Tucker

Last night I had a dream of my puppy. It was nice to see him again.
I won't write about the dream though...
Instead of replaying the trauma of his death in my mind, I am going to write out all of my memories of Tucker.

The story of Tucker actually starts 5 or so years ago. My wonderful friend Karen had the very best dog I ever met. I wanted one of her puppies so badly. But years went by and still no puppies. Being the impatient person I am, I went ahead and looked for a different puppy on my own. That's when I found Knuckles. Knuckles will be three this November. But this spring something wonderful happened... Peanut finally had puppies! All the puppies were spoken for, but by some miracle (in my mind) they fell through, and Karen posted on facebook that they were up for adoption. I bolted over the first chance I got!

When I arrived at their house I plopped myself down on the cement in back and Tucker came running. The biggest and toughest of the bunch. He barreled over his brother and sister in play, and I knew, if any one was going to be able to handle Knuckles... this one would be it!

Home I went, with the "bully" of the litter. My heart full of joy and completion.

I took him home to a lonely house. Both kids were gone for the summer (my son to camp, and my daughter at Nana and Papa's.) I was aching for someone to mother. Tucker met all of those needs.

It took Knuckles about a week to call Tucker "brother". There was entertaining jealousy for me to watch all day. Knuckles claimed my lap, sometimes by sitting right on top of Tucker. Tucker always took it like a trooper and simply picked a new spot to lay down.

If you leaned down to give him a kiss, you would most likely end up with a bite on the nose. His other favorite biting destinations were your ears, and the hem of your clothes. Flowing skirts and towels were his favorite.

Tucker was a natural at mousing. Only once did we find one in the back yard, but he caught it like a pro, and I had to pry it out of his clenched teeth. Knuckles loves to chase mice out in the field near by. Tucker was only allowed once... the stickers that matted his hair that day led us to just carry him through the field from then on. But one day a mouse shot out from the field and hid under a car. Knuckles couldn't reach of course, so I let Tucker down and two seconds later he emerged with a tiny tail sticking out of his mouth. I praised him as I pried open his jaws again, this time with much less resistance. He was so proud.

In our early days of walking he made it about half a mile then would flop beneath a tree for a rest. Recently though, he kept up with Knuckles for all of our three mile walk. On every walk he would look back at the house during the first block or two, dragging a little; then on our way home, once he realized that we were close, he would speed up and pull the whole way home. This was always amusing to me cause it's the exact opposite of what Knuckles does. Knuckles is always much more lively in the front end of the walk, then drags once we come within a few blocks of home on the way back.

Tucker was always the last one to bed at night. We'd tuck him in with Savannah, then a few minutes later we'd hear the jingle of his collar making his way to our room. He'd lay on the bathroom floor waiting for me to get out of the shower... then tug at the towel while I dried off.

Tucker's wake up time was 6:30 on the dot. The jingle of his collar would get closer and closer to my side of the bed, then a little whimper would accompany tiny scratches on the bed frame. "Pick me up." I'd lift him on to the bed and he'd bite my ear.

Tucker loved his brother Knuckles! He loved to jump up and bite his jaws, and his ears when he could reach. He learned everything from Knuckles... How to pee like a big boy, how to stay in the front yard and not run away, how to sit for a treat... we were just working on laying down, shaking hands, and kissing on command.
Tucker loved bully sticks, and would often try to trade his small one for Knuckles' big one. Knuckles, being a bit of a push over when it came to Tucker, would give his up and you'd see Tucker dragging a bully stick as long as himself around the yard.

One evening when we were tucking my son in bed, Tucker went under the bed and drug out an old bully stick of Knuckles' that he had hid there. We took it away from him, and he went back under and came out with a bone... He had found Knuckles' stash. (We would have never known.) He found another one (semi) buried in the back yard one day while we were swimming. He was a good little treasure finder.

On a few different occasions we would go back to his birth house for a visit. Knuckles came with us a couple times and Tucker showed him off to his family. It was so cute to see three little mops jumping on a great big "mean" dog.

Knuckles grew up real fast because of Tucker. Tucker took the spot of "puppy" and Knuckles instantly matured himself to responsible big brother. He was very protective (after the jealousy was over). When we wanted Tucker to come and he wasn't coming, Knuckles would get up and come to us... making Tucker follow him. Knuckles would alert us if there was a "mess" we needed to see, or if Tucker had something he wasn't suppose to have. It was so cute. Knuckles would even let Tucker have his food if Tucker asked for it... which led to me putting Knuckles' food up higher.

Tucker loved car rides. (I've been told that he was quite scared of the car before... so it must have been another one of Knuckles' teachings.) Tucker would run to the car door whenever he thought you were leaving. After bible study, when my ladies would leave he would attempt to get in each car as I said good bye. He loved to take the kids to school in the morning, and pick them up in the afternoon.

At the dog park all the owners would comment on his bravery and how much he liked the big dogs.

And that's all I'm going to say about that... cause that just made me cry.

I was talking to my dad this morning and he was talking about how his views on animals in "heaven" had changed. He was reminding me how big the new Jerusalem's measurements are, and saying what if the New Earth is expanded just as the New Jerusalem is, and surely there would be room for all the animals that we have loved. I really like that thought.

Tucker... I miss you... But I hope and pray to see you again on the other side.