Quite a Little Mister

One of God's many blessings on mankind.

We lost our faithful little companion, Taz. We acquired him 13 years ago when he was 3 years old. I would never have tolerated having an inside dog had we not been taking care of my dear, sweet, mother-in-law. It occurred to me that she might really enjoy having a dog, and she did. We had no idea that our desire to bless her would bring such joy to us through such a little mister.

Taz was a Chihuahua Pomeranian mix. He was extremely laid back, but could cause our much larger outside dog, Lola, roll over and submit with his self assured strut. Nothing made him happier than to see his dog bed going into the back seat of our car. He was an amazing traveling companion. All he asked was an occasional walk and treat. If we stopped to eat he would be on high alert for a table treat and highly insulted if we forgot to bring him something which rarely happened. If he got to stay in the hotel room with us he was a perfect little gentleman. If for some reason that wasn’t possible then he would spend the night quietly sleeping in his bed in the car right outside our door. He just went with the flow whatever was going on.

Our granddaughters loved him. When they were toddlers and would give chase he wasn’t such a fan, but once they got older he returned their affection. Whenever we would Skype with our granddaughters the highlight for them was the obligatory appearance of Taz. We put him front and center and they would call his name and try to get his attention. Taz merely tolerated the whole strange procedure.

Taz developed a heart murmur and went on medication. That kept him enjoying life for a year and a half. Then he started having what we would call “spells.” They came out of nowhere and were over quickly. On the evening of Good Friday he had a really bad one. We thought for sure we were losing him. He rallied and had a great Saturday. We had just started carrying him up and down our outside stairs. He could still do it, but we could see it was getting to be a challenge for him. It was a beautiful day and I was going to clean out my car. I put him under the shade of our maple tree with Lola. At one point he decided that maybe I was going somewhere so he came over looking up expectantly and wagging his tail. I think he was trying to reassure me that he was up for one more trip if that was what I had in mind. That evening he ate a good dinner. My husband carried him and his little bed up the stairs to our master bedroom for the night. When we got up Easter morning Taz was lying on his side in his bed and he was gone.

We were so thankful to the Lord for the easy way he went out. He enjoyed life to the very end. We wept many tears for the loss of his faithful companionship. We loved him and he loved us. We miss him terribly.