One of my favorite stories about Mattie comes from the day we brought Ryder home from the hospital. All the dogs were ecstatic to see us after a 3 days of Kris being gone and my sporadic visits to feed them only to rush back to the hospital. I had tried to introduce the smells of the new family member on those feeding visits by bringing articles of clothing home for them to smell, but the present came home at last and the dogs were overwhelmed by the baby… all of them but Mattie that is. Mattie wanted to play and she made sure her ball was her center of attention. It’s important to note that Mattie was never without a toy, whether it was a squeaky toy to annoy us while trying to watch TV, a ball that her brother had buried in the yard and thus was encrusted with soil or a twig that she had remodeled leaving chips and shavings strewn about the freshly vacuumed rug. She loved her toys and that day was no different for the stubborn pittie.
While the others sniffed the infant still strapped into his car seat on the coffee table wagging incessantly, Mattie wanted her allotment of attention that she felt she missed during our absence. Finally I grabbed the toy from her grip and took a handful of her scruff and forced her muzzle into Ryder’s belly for her to breathe the new reality into her nostrils. Her play posture and excitement quickly evolved under my grip as she realized for the first time what had happened. It was like witnessing a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, she was all of a sudden no longer the play driven canine as her erect tail morphed from play wag to slack to curious wag to WOW… this is the best thing ever wag. I released my grip but she remained engaged with him savoring him from head to toe and sneaking delicate licks where she found fresh baby skin. She was beside herself.
As the afternoon turned to evening, she remained at his side, curious and concerned each time we moved him and fed him and changed him. When the time came for his first sleep, she curled up outside the baby gated room and listened to his every cry, notifying us immediately if she thought he was in distress.
She didn’t pick up a toy for a week.
Ryder was her new best friend and they remained so until last week when we tearfully said goodbye to the best furry mommy a boy could ever have.
Her loss may have been the most difficult one yet. Maybe because of how quickly her condition materialized or because of how she impacted our lives and especially Ryder’s. Our tears had not yet dried since the loss of Sheba, only 6 months ago and so this added to the pain. Our hearts, our house and our lives will not be the same without her and we miss her dearly.
