Mia and Goofie

I know the challenge is about talking one particular dog in the present, but in this case, I cannot do that. The only dog we have now is our daughter's dog, Ugga, who is a rescue, and she is skittish around adults. The stories of her are not my stories to tell, they are our daughters. While she is a wonderful canine and has warmed up to us, to a point, her stories and memories created are mostly the ones she has made with our daughter. However, I will skip the sad, it's too painful to talk about, we are still not over the loss of our companions yet, even though it has been years, I will stick to the happy, funny and odd.

I do have stories of my own to tell, but it is impossible to narrow it down to just one loyal dog when the story involves much more than just one. I will start off with one, introduce another, and you will even be introduced to their heard. Mia, she is the little one at the top of the couch, small Chihuahua, about 8 pounds of weight, and at the time this picture was taken, she was 14 years old. She believed herself to be a cat-dog-parrot. Don't let her small size and age fool you either, you will see why later. That was my Mia girl. I still love her and miss her, even though she is no longer around, may she rest in peace, there is none like her, and none that will ever match her.

As my story progresses, you will meet Goofie, the big lug of a boxer boy curled in a ball. He is lucky in the opening picture to be that close to Mia, believe me it did not start that way, but not because of him, because of Mia. He too, is no longer with us, may he also rest in peace. In this picture he was about 60 pounds and almost 9 years old. He was born a runt from a breeder, and that was one of the reasons my husband chose to get him. Plus, he was the only playful guy in the litter. The other pups were lazy, but Goofie, he went right up to him and started licking his face and attacking his beard. Goofie was a one-of-a-kind boxer, and very genuine. He swore he was human, and we believed him.

You will hear mentions of others, such as Pyro, he's the flame point Siamese kitty lazing on the couch. The story I am going to tell you, I can't avoid mentioning other companions, but the main characters are Mia and Goofie. Mia and Goofie are the Alphas, but we will get to that later.

My husband and I, we blended our families, so originally, it was my kiddos, Mia and me. For my husband, it was his kiddo, Goofie and Pyro. Of course, we had been friends for a very long time, many years in fact, and for Mia, that was fine. She had no problem with that. We would have barbeques at his place, go hang out so the kids could play, watch movies, hang out while the kids were at school, have birthdays, even fourth of July celebrations. He would come for Thanksgiving and birthdays just back and forth we would share celebrations or just spend time together as friends do.

Over time, we became best friends, and Mia and Goofie were fine with this. Goofie loved having Mia over for play dates. Yes, she was older so playing was not what they did. But lazing in the sun next to each other was what they did, chewing on rib bones together, and cuddling was their thing. Goofie knew right away that Mia was not a running around type of dog, he also knew he was bigger than her, so when he was around her, he would crouch around her rather than step over her or tower over her. Neither one ever growled or nipped at the other. They were friends themselves. I remember a times when there was only one bone left at one of our hangouts. Goofie gave it to Mia, walked away to the sun and laid down. Now this bone was bigger than she was, she picked it up with her jaw, dragged it over to where Goofie was lazing, laid it between them so they could each chew the bone together. It reminded me of Lady and the Tramp.

That's their relationship before we became a blended family of course. Many years of us both having failed relationships, being involved with other people, we did not give each other a shot. One other reason, dating your best friend and if it goes wrong, can ruin a perfectly great friendship. In this world it is hard to find really great friends. I have some friends, but only two that I know through thick and thin that I can really count on no matter what, my husband, and my best girlfriend Roxy.

Mia, she was fine traveling back and forth for a day or two trip having a play date. She was a sweet girl. She was not just my pet; she was my companion. I have disabilities, so she was also my service animal too. I took her everywhere, to the store, the laundry mat, out to eat, everywhere I went, she went.

She always had her watchful eye on me. When it was cold, I always brought her favorite blanket. The first blanket I ever got her, I still have it to this day, and I sleep with it at night. My girl always got cold in the winter, even with her jackets and sweaters, I still had to bring her blanket.

When I got Mia, she was about 8 years old. She was a rescue. Right away, she picked me as her human, and we had a bond that I couldn't explain even if I tried. She was my girl, and I hers. She picked up on my disabilities right away, the most concerning one, my epilepsy. She knew right away when I was going to have a seizure. I did not catch on right away what she was doing when she started to run back and forth tugging at other people's pant legs. People thought she was trying to attack them, but then she would let out two soft barks, and I mean soft barks, then run towards me. She would do it until someone would follow. By the time someone did, I was already convulsing, and an ambulance was there.

It was brought to my attention what she was doing. It was then that I realized that she was able to be registered as a service animal. She followed basic commands already, been through basic training, and from people that had witnessed these actions on more than one occasion, I was able to register her without the extensive training that most service dogs have to have because she had advocates stating what a hero she was.

Mia loved her walks, loved dressing up, and enjoyed car rides. She definitely loved Goofie when it was a visit. She loved to watch the birds, and adored cats. She was never aggressive, and she had a keen sense of people. She knew how to growl; it was always low. For some reason my ex, she did not like him at all. I could not put my finger on it. He would try and threaten to get rid of her, but I would never allow it.

I told my ex that we were through and secretly started saving money to move. After a little while, I started getting a bad feeling, and Mia stayed closer to my children and me more and more. Something was not right; I could feel it. So, I secretly started saving even more money away so I could move faster. I made up excuses on why I was short on my half of the rent. I was searching for cheap places, looking around, putting in applications.

The next-door neighbor was a realtor and I even asked her to keep an eye out, but to tell me secretly. I needed to find a place ASAP. The place we were living at was his mom's owed unit, after I had saved up enough for a new place, I gave her my 60-day notice. No matter what, I was leaving, because something was not right. Mia had already picked up on it before I even did.

This brings me back to the mention of my best friends from earlier. They are my glue, no matter how often we have had an argument in our friendships, they have always been there. Well, I was unexpectedly placed into a very bad situation before my 60 days was up. I think my ex was told. I also found out he had stolen all the money I had saved up for the past 6 months to move. I had nothing to move with.

I needed rescuing, the only one that I knew would be able to help me at that time of night was my husband. I know Roxy would have tried until she was blue and purple in the face, but it was time sensitive. My kids, and my safety was at risk, and I had to act fast. So, I did what I had to do, I made a call that I knew could not wait any longer. Within 15 minutes, my best friend had come, and within another 15 minutes, my kids Mia and I with just the bare necessities were in his car and he asked me where I wanted to go. At first, I was going to see about a cheap motel, but what money I had left would only get me a few nights. He offered me to stay at his place until we could sort it out the next day.

Mia and Goofie were both alphas. In that situation, she was okay with staying the night. It was the first time we had ever had a sleepover, and she stayed closer to me than ever. Goofie sat right next to Mia and I and my children licking us and Mia showing compassion and in his own way, trying to comfort us. Right away, he knew something was wrong when we arrived.

The next day came, and all the money I had saved for the past six months was gone when I double-checked. I had no means of moving into a new place, and I had to get my stuff out of my old residence. I knew I could not leave it there, I had valuables that were irreplaceable. So, my best friend and I put our heads together, and we decided why not be roommates, I move in, use what I had to pay half the rent for now, we decide utilities later, and let's go get the rest of mine and the kids belongings.

Of course, I did not want to impose, and I also knew my options were limited. I agreed and said it would be temporary. Within a week we were settled and had all our stuff out of my ex's place. The kids were happy. Mia on the other hand, it was the first time she growled and barked at Goofie. She did not like the new arrangements. Goofie, on the other hand, loved the new arrangement.

These two were two peas in a pod. They clicked; they were best friends themselves. Deep down, Mia adored and loved Goofie. He was a character and to see him every day was something else. He literally lived up to his name. If you think about Goofy the Disney character pooch, he is nothing goofy compared to the Goofie our goof was. Goofie being born a runt came with a few factors, he was cross-eyed, small for a boxer, had a snout more smooshed than other boxers, and he was always wobbly. Boxers are also very energetic, well add ADHA to this pup, you have the amount of energy that 10 Monter energy drinks would give to a teen, or a 2-year-old that has just had their first chocolate bar plus roasted marshmallow! That is the amount of energy Goofie had all the time.

His small size and high energy, this guy could eat about 60 pounds of food in a day! Yet, he would not gain weight! Where on Earth did, he put it!? Goofie was so funny, when he ran, he would run sideways, always and bunk his head, stumble and continue to run. He was always happy, I loved how he was always happy. Wagging his tail, but we had to stay clear of it because it was like a whip. His wag was very strong, his entire rear end wagged. The best thing about Goofie, though, his smile.

Goofie, ever since he was a pup, always smiled. Mia knew he was a smiler; she had seen him so many times. He always greeted her with a smile. Only now, it was every day. Mia was not a smile dog; I did not know if it was because she did not know how or not or was just not a smile type of dog. She was a tail wagger, and because of her small size, when she wagged her tail, her whole body shook I thought she'd topple over.

When we moved in, she would growl, snarl, and bark at Goofie, her best friend, and he would look hurt and sad. He had these eyes of "what did I do wrong?" We would reassure him he was okay, and he would still be persistent with her. Every chance he got, he would go to her, smile, even as her growls got louder, he would sit, scooch closer with a big smile on his face. At times, she sounded like a lioness.

Even when Mia was asleep, Goofie would sit in front of her, proud as can be smiling. When she would wake up, the first thing she would see was him smiling at her. I don't know how many times it made her jump out of her own skin before she got used to that and she barked up a storm at him. It was funny though. Then one day, she didn't bark, snarl, or anything. She surprised us all. It had been a month that we were there now, and Goofie was a persistent, patient pooch. I wish I had a picture, but it got all of us off guard!

Even Goofie.

Goofie was doing his normal sit and watch Mia sleep and smile routine one day. She woke, no jump out of skin this time. She stretched, yawned, shook her body. Looked at Goofie, he's just sitting there looking at her. Big Smile on his face, He stood up and took a few steps closer to her. She actually allowed it. She is standing on the couch, and she licked his nose. Goofie just stood there smiling still but had a confused look in his eye. My hubby and I are sitting there too, afraid to make any sudden movements watching this wondering if we have gone crazy. Then Mia did something she has never done before. She smiled back at Goofie!

It was a small smile, but a smile. In the first month that we were there, Goofie had taught her to smile, after that, she started to become more playful, running around more, and running under Goofie's feet. It was funny because he ran sideways as always. When she did that it made him go sideways more and he'd topple over to avoid falling on her. They had a unique way of playing. After she would make him topple over, she would go up to him and give him kisses and they would playfully growl and grunt at each other. Over time, they became inseparable.

On walks, they were a unique couple. As things blossomed, they were a pair, they were total alphas, both protective of the family, and each other. Goofie disliked people, and Mia would put him in check. All she had to do was bark sternly at him, and he would quiet down, sit and just watch. She would sit right in front of him and watch too, especially when people came close to the kids and me. As they blossomed, my best friend and I also did. We found out we had so much in common than met the eye.

We also found out that we both secretly had been attracted to each other for years but did not want to ruin our friendship. As our companion dogs grew closer together, we also grew closer together as well. We took our friendship to the next awkward level. We also made a pact, that our friendship will forever come first, and if the romantic part did not workout, whether it was days, weeks, months or years from now, we valued our friendship above all else, and it would remain so. We gave ourselves a shot and became more than friends. Just as our dogs did. My Mia, she was fixed, could not have pups, and Goofie was also fixed, but they were soulmate dogs.

However, Goofie and Mia did find babies. Pyro, he was already a member, but they treated Pyro like their baby. Of course, Pyro was a cat, and he did not like dog ways. However, he did like getting his ears groomed, especially from Mia. She had a smaller tongue. Goofie, he was small for a boxer, but still bigger, so he was great for warmth on the cold days, and a great bed for Pyro.

After a year, Mia and Goofie found Behr. Behr was a four-week-old rottweiler mastiff puppy that they found abandoned and tossed like last week's trash. He had an awful smell to him and was skin and bones. He could not even walk. This was in the middle of winter during normal nights walk. We thought there was a giant racoon at first, but nope. Turned out to be a dog that was very filthy. We brought him in, gave him a warm bath and realized he had some very nice patterns to him. The lavender and oatmeal scents did not get rid of the smell. He smelled of something decaying. We traveled all over town hoping for something open. Found one place and got him some shots but was not sure if they would work. He had signs of parvo.

We tried anyway, on top of all home remedies we could to save this big-little guy. Everything in the book. I even called my mom, told her what Mia and Goofie found, and she gave me tons of ideas to try. We did them all. Mia and Goofie took turns watching over Behr, keeping him company, bathing him, even bringing him food in their mouths and placing it next to him so he would eat. We had to syringe feed him liquids to keep him hydrated. We were afraid he would not make it.

After about three weeks, Behr got up and started walking around, slowly. He had mobility issues, and he could not jump up, but he made his way to the water dish and started drinking on his own. Goofie on one side, Mia one the other, guided Behr to the food dish and sat down and Behr started to eat on his own. After a couple weeks of this routine, Goofie and Mia guiding him around, Behr had energy to do it on his own. Within another week, Behr started getting his weight back and was able to go on walks with Mia and Goofie. He eventually had energy just like Goofie, and played very gently with Mia. When he got out of line, Mia did the same kind of bark that she would give to Goofie, and he would lay down at Mia's feet and give her his puppy eyes while licking her paws.

Goofie and Mia had their babies, Pyro the cat, Behr the rottweiler mastiff who grew to be almost 200 pounds by the time he was 9 months old. When Behr was 6 months, he got a brother Wickett. It was getting close to retirement for Mia, so I needed to get a dog to start training as Service Dog. I was going to have Mia help train.

Wickett was a cocker spaniel, and he was a ball of energy and was welcomed very quickly. Mia and Goofie loved him, and he was younger, so for Behr, he had a brother closer to his age. Mia knew Wickett was to start training right away, when I started having signs, she'd nip Wickett, to alert him first, then do her thing. It took him 6 times to catch on, what we did not realize, was Behr and Goofie also catching on also. Goofie was already a service and Emotional Support Animal to my husband, and Behr was an Emotional Support animal to my daughter, so when all of them started to go off at the same time, my husband said it was a crazy circus. We had to learn that each alert was for something different. For instance, Goofie nudging my hubby on the arm and then licking his arm was Goofie telling him his blood sugar was low, all dogs picked that up, so it was the same.

Mia not barking, but licking my head meant I was going to be having a severe headache, all dogs picked that up, so I needed to lay down, Mia licking my chin, my blood sugar was low, all dogs picked that up, Mia laying on my chest and cuddling me was emotional distress. The biggest one of all, a bark, run to nearest person, grab a piece of their clothing, pull, let go, run to me, and repeat until they follow, means I'm about or am convulsing. Yes, all dogs picked up on this, and the person they ran to and grabbed the clothing on was, of course, my hubby. For him he was lucky to even get to me because all four dogs were grabbing his clothes and pulling.

Wickett was in training, and at times accidently would nip skin too, but never broke it. Mia would nip him when he did. Goofie and Behr were teaching him how to do baby nibbles when playing. He eventually learned the difference and became aware that when alerting, be cautious to only grab clothes, and when it was playtime, baby nibbles are always gentle and never hard. It was tickles for the person. He loved to give baby nibbles, especially to our youngest son because he still had a baby laugh. Mia and Goofie were great teachers to Behr and Wickett.

Having the pack was an adventure and walking them was a task in itself. Goofie and Mia of course always had to be in the front. I remember on one of our walks we found an old antique piano from the 1940's on the side of the road. We were more than 4 blocks from home. It was free, and in spite of the wear and tear on it, fixable. So, we pushed it home. Our pack barking when we were close to a street letting us know it was time to watch for traffic.

No, I do not have pictures of this adventure, it was a task just getting it home. However, I will include a couple of pictures from the refurbishment process. It was a fun family activity. We already had two guitars, one acoustic, one electric bass, a drum set, and a violin. Not to mention the harmonicas and flutes. I had always wanted a piano but could never afford one. Finding this antique was like finding lost treasure in the Atlantic Ocean. We had to replace a few parts, and because it was such an old Piano, it took some of the parts did not come in the size anymore. We had to saw and sand them down very carefully to fit. Once we had it done and tuned, it was ready to play.

Fun fact, our fur children were just as much music lovers as we are from Rock-and Roll to Beethoven. When we would play on the instruments, Pyro would perch on the couch with his eyes closed and just listen. The others, they'd perch on the cat tree and harmonize their meows. Behr, Mia, Wickett and Goofie, they would sit next to one of us, Mia on the piano bench with me, Goofie next to my husband on the bass, Wickett next to one of our kids usually our youngest on the drums, and Behr next to either our daughter who played the violin or our older son on the acoustic.

While we played, they would sing. It was great fun hearing them harmonize to the beats we were playing. No matter what it was, they picked up on it. It was a family event we did, and when the kids had friends come over their friends would join in, and they got a kick out of how our animal companions joined in. Our daughters' best friends said they had never seen anything like it.

Our canines were wonderful, and great with cats. We knew this with Pyro. We added a few more to the family, Figaro a tuxedo, Arrietty a Siamese silver point and her brothers Mr. BigglesWorth and his twin brother D'Artagnan both male Siamese flame points.

Family game nights, our companions wanted to join in. We had this one game that was called Don't Step on the Poop, it was great fun, and when one of us did, Goofie would roll right on your feet and make it worse for you. Behr on the other hand, if you were close to winning, he would sneak in behind you and make you misstep and make you step on it. Uno Attack, that was a hoot! Goofie, Behr, Wickett and Mia would all try and catch the cards when they got thrown at us. Goofie and Behr usually did, and they often were covered in slobber, especially the ones Goofie caught. Mia liked to try and hide the cards or give the cards that got thrown to me to someone else, especially if I was down to the least cards. It was fun times. Wickett, who was supposed to be on my side, helped the kids, and tried taking the cards thrown at the kids and giving them to my husband and me. Goofie and Behr buried the cards in the couch or chairs or hid them in the bedrooms and sent us all on a wild goose chase trying to find them. sometimes we found them, and sometimes, months later we found more after buying a replacement pack.

In the summertime, they loved going to parks or playing in the backyard. We had a pool just for them too. Behr, Goofie and Wickett were water dwellers, Mia, she was a sunbather. She hated the water but enjoyed being in the outdoors with just a small amount of sun hitting her just right. As she had enough, she would roll.

We had a beach towel set up for her in her favorite spot just for her sunbathing purposes. Goofie, Wickett and Behr, they were all about the water. We had the Pool for them plus the sprinkler. It is hard to know what they loved more, pool, sprinkler or hose. Behr enjoyed swimming and running through the water, and I remember one time he tipped the entire pool upside down, caused a whole flood in the yard, even got Mia and her towel wet. Oh, she through a fit like you would not believe, and poor Behr, you could tell he was sorry. He crouched on his belly and crawled to her and started to lick her face and she kept turning away and using her paw tapping on her wet towel. So, the big lug, he stated to lick her towel trying to dry it. Goofie and Wickett saw what he was doing, and they went to help, but of course that wasn't going to work. I took her towel and put it on a rinse and drain cycle then dried it in the dryer for her while everyone else was getting Mia to calm down and resetting up the pool. Days like that it was like taking care of 10 toddlers.

When everything was better, Mia had her towel back, they went back to playing as if nothing had happened. We turned on the sprinkler and our oldest son whose 18 now, turned on the water hose, Goofie did not know which he wanted, neither did Behr or Wickett. The sprinkler or hose. They turned it into a game of catch the water. For Behr and Wickett it sprayed their chaps, made them sneeze and they go after it again. For Goofie, now again, he is a boxer, he has big chaps, so imagine for a moment, batwings on your dog's mouth flying. That was how it was for Goofie when he was Catching the water from the sprinkler and even bigger batwings from the hose.

Whenever we took them to a dog park, they have one side for big dogs and one side for small dogs. Our pack would not allow themselves to be separated. They would throw fits until they could be together. Parks was a year-round past time, but summer we took them more often. We knew Behr and Goofie would be great with small dogs because Mia and Wickett were small, and Goofie was Mia's soulmate from the day they met. Wickett and Behr were their children.

Other people's large dogs, we were not sure of, so we put Goofie and Behr on the small dog side. A few times, park personnel would come and ask us if we knew whose big dogs they were. "Yea, ours, the two small ones there are ours also." They would give us the speech about the rules of big dogs on one side for safety reasons. Every time we had to explain, our dogs refuse to be separated, and it's safer on this side for our small dogs. We also would show them our registration cards for the SA, and they would leave us grumbling. However, no one else that was at the park complained about our two big dogs, especially the regulars. They enjoyed having them there.

They were happy to see how well behaved they were and enjoyed hearing about how we had such an odd pack. Especially when it came to Mia and Goofie. People could see the love they shared, Goofie always walked beside her, and at the park when she laid down, so did he, and they watched Wickett and Behr play. At home it was different, Goofie played with the kids. On walks and to the park, he spent time with her like they were an old couple. The older he got, the less he played with the kids and the more he laid with Mia, and just watched the children as she did. Don't get me wrong, he still had the energy to play with the kids, and Behr and Wickett, but he ran out of energy quicker and had to take breaks in between. So, he lazed with the feline children, and with his girl, Mia. Many years have passed, and each are very missed.

Some had health conditions that shortened the lifespan, and others, unforeseen events. Having Mia and Goofie in our life was a blast and gave so much joy, and even though they could not produce children of their own, they adopted and found children of their own and grew our family in their own way. I have so many stories I could share, but I know I cannot go on forever. I leave you with this, cherish every moment you have with your fur baby, or fur babies, the moment eventually comes to a halt. Sometimes suddenly. I know, we still cherish the moments we had, and still have laughs at all the goofiness that ours gave us, and we still share tears at the loss too. We still can feel the hugs they gave us and all the slobbery kisses, especially Goofie's, his were the sloppiest because he used his whole tongue, Mia' were the softest, she used just the tip of her tongue and gave tiny kisses.