Six Pounds Of Sweetness
Monday, October 22, 2007 at 11:59PM Last night I allowed the family dog, Javier, to sleep curled up behind my knees in the bed I share with my husband. This is not our usual practice. I'm not even sure why I did it except I felt sorry for him ... Javier, I mean. Javier is a six-pound Chihuahua; he has belonged to us since a few days after his birth. He came into the world under the watchful eye of a breeder in Zanesville, Ohio, early in August of 1999, and when I first saw him he was so young, his eyes were not yet open. I held him in the palm of my hand and if I had needed to hold something else at the same time, like maybe a pack of gum or a small Cute-Puppy-O-Meter (on which he would easily have scored 29 out of a possible 10), I'd have had room to spare.
I had called and made an appointment with the breeder, Theresa, because I was told by one of her satisfied customers that there was a new litter for sale. When I got there, however, only two puppies remained to choose from. They were both way cute but I immediately chose Javier (who had been pre-named by my children). He was black with tan markings, and I especially liked the two little caramel-colored dots over his eyes. I was introduced to his father, Danny, a feisty little long-haired Chihuahua, and his mother (whose name I don't recall), who had short hair. Javier had inherited his mother's short hair but according to Theresa, he had his father's personality. Theresa told me that Javier became her favorite of that litter.
See, on the day I picked Javier out and we started paying for him, he couldn't actually come home with me. He had to stay with his dog family for five more weeks, and in that time, Theresa got to know him. When I took possession of Javier on a stormy day in mid-September, she said she'd sure miss him. It took nearly two hours to get home from Zanesville that day, and the whole time Javier lay in the crook of my arm, looking soulfully up at me. He had grown but he was still so small that if I grasped him gently by his midsection and held him up, his legs barely cleared my hands and hung over. His head was the size of a small plum. He was utterly, incredibly, and undoubtedly the cutest little puppy I have ever seen that wasn't a Beagle. (We have owned several Beagles and are very partial to the breed, but our hearts have been broken by all of them. I can't talk about it.)
Although Javier has a few maddening personality traits (not the least of which is, 99 percent of the time he is on the wrong side of the door, scratching, begging for admittance to the opposite side), he has been a near-perfect pet. He's small and portable, which is handy when you are traveling. His crate is always the first thing to go in the trunk when we take a car trip. We position it against the pass-through with the door open so that he can go from the cave of the trunk to the relative freedom of the backseat without anyone having to help him. Of course, he never wants to be in the crate on trips, so generally someone is holding him. He doesn't care to look out the window; he just wants to be held. In fact, aside from the standard begging for a morsel of anything that anyone is eating (and he is world-class in this endeavor), Javier never asks for much except to be with you. He just wants to be with you.
Javier's general demeanor swings wildly between that of a bump on a log and a speeding bullet. If I or any of my children are sitting in a chair or on a sofa, he will be snuggled by our side before we can get properly situated. If a human is not available to share space with, he can usually be found curled in a tight little ball on his blankie (indoors) or his towel (outdoors). If he has been in his crate and someone lets him out, he begins hurtling through the house as though he has been shot out of a cannon. The sound of Javier's little claws skittering along the length of the ceramic tile in the kitchen is followed by the plunkety plunk of him swiftly taking the carpeted stairs down to the TV room. Then there is a final plop as he flings himself down one more step into the sunroom, where his blankie is. Likely as not he'll tear around the sunroom madly for several seconds before catapulting himself back up the step into the TV room. He repeats this process several times until he finally collapses on his blankie to lick his paws and, eventually, sleep.
Javier knows several words and phrases. There may be more, but I am certain he understands these: "Want to go get in Mommy's bed?" (because he runs right to it) ... "Want to go outside?" (because he goes directly to the closest door and stands there, wagging his tail, until you open it) ... "Are you hungry?" (because he goes straight to his food dish and waits) ... "Go to your crate." (because he goes right to his crate and gets in, and he can even bat the door open if it has swung shut) ... "Go get on your blankie now." (because he does) ... and "Do you need a bath?" (because his ears go back flat and begin trembling, and he hides his face in your neck).
Since I am the one who takes care of him, Javier's favorite human should by all rights be me, but his soulmate is in fact our youngest daughter, Erica. From the day we brought Javier home, he and Erica have been special buddies. They truly seem to understand one another. However, she has been away at college for over three years now and he's had to be satisfied with my company ... and that's why once in a while I take pity on him and let him sleep in my bed. Plus which, it was cold last night.
Below is a vid -- taken nearly three years ago -- of Erica putting Javier through his paces. If you knew him, you'd have no doubt that he was loving every minute of it.
Jennifer
Reader Comments (5)
Love the story behind Javier. We started letting our Shih Tzu Scarlett sleep on the bed with us pretty much out of pity. She tends to curl up behind my legs and snores like a sailor. At first I was totally against it, but now I don't think I could get comfortable without her!
Awwwww, Jason, that's sweet! I love her name ... Scarlett Darlin' ... "pretty much out of pity" ... LOL! Their little presences can be a great comfort.
Remind me again who the owners are and who the pets are? Amazing how they worm their way in to our hearts. Javier looks cute and perky - has Erica ever thought about lion-taming?
LOL Depps! You are so right. Erica might consider that profession, in a pinch ...
I've been out of the country for three weeks. My cat missed me so much that she spent the last two nights sleeping wrapped around my head. On my first night back in my own bed, she woke me twice - once licking my forehead and once making biscuits on my head. The dog? She's much more independent and won't have any of that gushy stuff.