When I was a young girl, my dad used to subscribe to Reader’s Digest. I would pore through every edition, especially the stories people wrote about their dogs. Some were so poignant that I would sob, but they told of such amazing lives and the love we have for our pets. I didn’t have a dog then, but for the last 45 years, there has always been a dog in my house.
I write this because we have just said goodbye to our family dog, Ca$h. She joined us as a puppy in 2008 and our boys named her Ca$h. Ca$h Money. At 15-and-a-half her body finally let her down, but she taught me so much about aging gracefully. She stayed positive, enjoyed her family, never gave up on the stairs and still loved her time outside. When her bad days were as frequent as her good days, we knew it was time. Our whole family was with her at the end.
In her youth, she was a knucklehead. At about six months her part chow heritage asserted itself, and she wanted to be the alpha. Our other dog, Sydney, would not have it. Fights and stitches ensued. Ca$h almost went back to the pound, but once she figured out the pecking order, she became a model dog, a great friend and neighbor, and even liked one of our mailmen. She enjoyed other dogs, but not the dog park. She ran home from dog day at the pool.
She was a ginger-colored beast who was obsessed with her ball. She could chase it for hours and made sure everyone played with her. She was always included in our gatherings, even in our son’s Class of 2016 high school graduation picture. Then shortly after that, Sydney died, and within days, my husband Darrell passed suddenly. Ca$h found her purpose: The dog we rescued, rescued us. She became the soft, sweet place where we all needed to land.
In 2017, she moved from the suburbs to Denver, which meant getting used to being on a leash. She was the greeter at garage sales and lay in her front yard sunning until the dog catcher clipped her wings. She was a people dog and a great conversation starter. A pretty dog with a huge smile who was a magnet for children. And she connected our Bucket List audience to those with pets in the Denver area. Ca$h was our canine correspondent.
Now she’s crossed the rainbow bridge. It was strange to wake up without her in the house this morning. No one licking a hand to remind us it’s time to let her out, to feed her breakfast. She was just a mutt, rescued from a shelter, but she became so much more. We even painted her likeness in a mural on the wall of our garage. Ca$h was a member of our family and a part of our community. A dog that changed lives. A pound puppy full of love and light just like the dogs in Reader’s Digest.
