to tanya girl

why would you write a blog post about a dog? well, i already did write one a year ago. but as i sit here asking myself that question (with tears in my eyes), i guess anyone who's ever had a dog (or mayyybe a cat, but that's a stretch), will know why. it's because they're special and have their own spot in your family tree; it's because they have driven you crazy and made you laugh and scream. it's because under that fur is a personality that you've come to love and cherish. 

that's who tanya has been for me and my family. and that's why losing her is hard because it reminds me of the past twelve years of growing up and all the laughter and joy we've shared with that fur covered marshmallow.

[let's go to the beach, beach, let's go get a wave]

i have been infuriated with that dog. she's the one that has broken neighbors' lamps and jumped on house guests and eaten pieces of chocolate cake and run down the street when you're already 10 minutes late for a doctor's appointment. she's the one that disallowed me from bunny or hamster sitting because she would pant outside my door, jumping to get into my room and chase the rabbit - and potentially kill it. she's the one who chased down birds on the beach and got one in her mouth who had to be rescued and brought to an animal shelter. she's the one who got a pet chicken in her mouth while i was roller blading and i had to chase her, screaming at the top of my lungs to DROP THE BIRD so she wouldn't kill it (thankfully she didn't. but i never went roller blading with her again). and perhaps the most difficult for my mom was her love for chasing skunks -- usually at about 10 pm much to the parents' dismay.

but she's also the dog that makes you laugh. she loves to garden with my mom and sticks her grey nose into the dirt and gets the look of excitement when she finds a lizard. she pounces on the gophers we caught during the summer and sleeps 23 hours of the day. she's the christmas morning entertainment and gets a bone in her stocking and happily chews it while we open presents. she's the one who would secretly eat a muffin and then whine at the door waiting for you to see that she did something very bad as a sort of sign of repentance. she's the dog that waits patiently while you cut your apple since she knows she'll get the core and she can smell you pealing an orange from the other side of the house and will politely beg for a slice. she licks our peanut butter jars clean and enjoys my mom's plain yogurt containers; she chews on our corn cobs and enjoys watermelon rinds too. she has no sense of modesty and lays flat on her back, only to be awakened when she starts to sneeze.

[christmas morning = bone chewing time]

tanya carries so many memories for me. i remember the way she made precious isaac giggle when she licked his face. i remember when we bought her as a puppy and i taught her how to sit. i also remember when we put her in her pen and she kept whining and i cried because i hated hearing that sound. i remember when we thought we would name her taffy, but decided after three days that we needed a different name. i remember taking her to lake san antonio with our church friends and how she would swim with us in the water. i remember when she threw up all over my shoes on christmas when we were driving to grandpa and grandma's and ever since how the three of us would argue about who would have to sit in the back (and we would all panic when she would get restless and start to make noises: MOM SHE'S GONNA BARF! WHATDOIDO?!?). i remember how much she loves my grandpa and grandma's backyard and how she eats too many avocados and always makes herself sick. i remember days at the beach and how much tanya loves the water and getting sandy and laying out in the sun.

and puppy training. OH PUPPY TRAINING. those are priceless memories. our family could have been featured on a sit-com with tanya who completely failed every part of that evening class. we didn't know where she was half the time because she would just wander off and she never took much interest in learning basic commands besides "sit".

her favorite position

[tanz, melis, and isaac]

she's a funny one, that tanya girl. we've nicknamed her all sorts of things from "tanz" to "d-dog" to "beast of the wildies" (that one definitely was created by my father).

each person in my family has a different relationship with that dog: libs and i have always been the more practical/responsible pet owners: tanya may not have any food from the table, nor may she get onto our beds.
kelsey is the fun one: of course tanya can eat food from the table, cuddle with me on the bed or couch (despite my attempts to tell her otherwise)
tanya and my mom are like two peas in a pod. she follows my mom around like a shadow -- gardening, in the bathroom while she curls her hair, in her bedroom for a mid-day slumber, in the kitchen while mom is making dinner (which drives mom CRAZY)-- everywhere and anywhere, tanz is by her side. gardening is her favorite outing, but she is perfectly content anywhere else. they're the perfect team for gopher hunting and enjoy liesurely strolls every night after dinner (short walks, that is -- tanya has never been able to make it very far. just far enough to sniff around).
and dad. my dad is the first one up in the morning and the first one in bed too, so they have a special little routine where he gets her breakfast in the morning and takes her out at night. he doesn't like to give her a treat by hand because he freaks out that tanya will accidentally bite his hand. thus ensues arguments around 10:30 pm between all of us about how gentle tanya is and "dad you NEED to stop freaking out that she's going to bite your hand!"

we got tanya when i was 10, kels was 8 and libs was only 5. now i'm 22 and a lot has changed within those 12 years. i went through junior high and high school and college and braces and cross country meets and youth group and family vacations and prom and summer camp and long nights of homework. over the course of 10 years we had "tanya schedules" rotating poop pick up and dog walking and dog washing between the three of us (full disclosure: mom picked up our slack all the time so we can't take too much credit). we would each (usually sort of reluctantly) wash her out in the backyard with oatmeal shampoo and she would shake with soapy water and run around the yard before she was done (sometimes in the dirt) and we would run around yelling at her to come back (but like i said before: puppy training was a failure. so asking her to "come" when you're holding a hose and an angry scowl was definitely not a successful endeavor).

saying good bye to her is sad because it reminds me of so many things she was a part of - and how thankful i am that she was always there each time i walked through my front door no matter how many times i left. she's been an important part of our family - always on the floor while we watch movies on a saturday night, always excited to see us when we pick her up after we're on vacation, always panting when it's hot outside, and always wanting to be pet whenever we're sitting in the living room. we've all pulled her along the street when she doesn't want to walk and we've all had our fair share of searching for her down the neighborhood and receiving phone calls from random neighbors "yes, hello, i think we have your dog. is her name tanya? we live right down the street and she's in our yard"

yep, we say...that is definitely our dog. and you know what? we love her for it.

i'm gonna miss that crazy, funny, lazy, beautiful, sweet, sweet dog. i'm gonna miss her a lot.