For the love of dog!

I just came from FC's post over at PureFlorida he just lost his long time friend Feather. It reminded me of the days i had Breeze and Dulcinaya. I loved those two. And i will likely never reproduce the love and experiences they gave me ever again. What adventures we had together. I have and will have many dogs in my lifetime, but none like those two.

Dulci and Breeze were my first dogs, they were my rocks of gibralter. They kept me sane. And focused. I was living on South Beach and without them and the thought of them at times tearing up the apartment, i might have really gone overboard living down there. They forced upon me responsibility when at that age, it was the last thing on my mind. The age where you can work all day, party all night, stumble into work again without any sleep and work a full day, again. :) But, too many of those nights and you would see the ravages it had on my companions, my friends, my cuddle bugs, and it snapped me back to reality. I credit those two and only those two in keeping me centered those crazy years. And not to say i didn't bring them with me on a few crazy excursions. they went EVERYWHERE with me. If they couldn't go, i didn't either.

Ducli and Breeze both loved the pool. One day i remember having the front patio open to the cat walk of my 3rd floor apartment on the Venetian Causeway. (What an apartment, and what a view of Biscayne Bay.) I hear my name being called from the pool deck below. I look out and there i see Breeze and dulci just about to jump into Biscayne Bay. OH NO!!! i'll never catch them now. OH NO! i run down 3 flights, run to the dock and start calling my two crazy girls who were swimming out to sea. :) Luckily a seedoo was there we jumped on and went to get them. By the time i got to them they had made friends with the dolphins in the bay and what a sight to see. What a memory. Amazing. After that though i had to put up baby gates to keep them in the apartment. As they knew when the elevator door opened right next to my front door they could go down it and go swimming. This wasn't the last episode like this. And how i tried to contain them. I did successfully help change the rules of this apartment complex to sometimes let the dogs swim in the pool. (to the disimay of some of the residents). Eddy the manager took a liking to them. Every body liked them. They always put a smile on your face.

The memories i have  of them are still so fresh in my mind. The day i brought Dulci home. They day i told Mark he couldn't have Breeze back. They days i brought dulci to work with me. I was working 12 hour days and if they wanted me to work so hard, then they had to put up with the dog in the office. The nights and weekends bringing them to the barns, i stabled at. The time dulci got hit by a car right in front of me. The terror i felt. Its all still here. I can feel it still. The day breeze jumped off the boat because she felt like it. Bringing them Everywhere with me, two bookends. So beautiful. They created a crowd no matter where we went. Taking dulci to bars with me at night. And hiding her behind the bar while i danced the night away. Or how they both sat so straight and proud in my convertible. As i would drive down Alton Road. Or as they aged dulci going blind but loving her new home out here. Never needing a muzzle once we moved. Or breeze who died shortly after moving here.  How they both got along with Brandy, and how brandy would gingerly step over them in the pasture where they would just fall asleep.  Sometime finding them asleep with brandy.

These two were with me for it all.  My entire young life. They experienced everything with me. And for 18 years i was never without them for over a day or two. I did take a trip once to Utah and hired them a nanny, who called me a week into the trip and told me they were both dieing. Sick and sad. I came home to two emaciated dogs and realized how bonded they were to me. 2 weeks in Utah was my last long vacation i ever took while they were alive.

When the time came to put them down. each, a year after the other. Family came and paid condolences to them. Those last days were a constant barage of people coming to say goodbye to these two furry friends of mine. Me constantly crying. I was too,  so attached to them. It's been 5 and 6 years they have been gone now. And i think of them less and less on a daily basis, but when i hear about a friend's dog, or read like i did about FC and his furry friends, i remember them. And i smile. And thank them again for being there for me thru all those years.

They were truly one of kind.