I'd like to invite you to get to know my Suki-Yaki. So please, pull up a chair, get a drink if you must, lay back and relax. There's more than 4 and a 1/2 years of history I have with her prior to the big "C" so there are plenty of stories to tell. Since this is all in the past, instead of being organised by dates I'm doing it by chapters. I'll be updating this as time permits. Lastly and most importantly this is a cancer free zone.
Ch 1. Finding Suki
I can't truly explain the bond I have with my Suki eloquently but I'll give it a go. I've always been a dog person and had unusually strong emotional connections to them. When I was a kid and other children were playing "tag" I wanted to play "dog." Rewind to February 2004. After having put Zippy my German Shepherd Lab mix down a few months prior (October 16th 2003 - RIP) at the age of 11, I knew it was time for another wet nose in my life. I originally had my eyes set on a Basenji mix named Nicky. When I contacted the animal rescue org about adopting her I was disappointed to learn she had already been placed in a home. Jen of Companion Animal Rescue assured me she had the perfect dog for me. I told her I wanted to meet her rejects...the ones she had the hardest time placing. Adults...behavioural problems....diseases....you name it...I wanted it. I have no kids...and don't want them. That leaves me the time and patience to work with problem animals and someone has to love these mutts so why shouldn't it be me.
First she brought with her a neurotic mix named Emily that had been abused and suffered high anxiety towards anything male. I still lived at home with the parental units at the time and my father was not feeling as charitable as me, especially when Emily tried to have a go at him teeth first. He asked "who else do you have?" and in strutted Cookie, a mutt with canine ehrlichiosis and crippling dog aggression problems. She had recently given birth to a litter of pups that were easily adopted out but because she was an adult with a disease she was harder to place. This madam walked in like she owned the place, leaped on my lap and licked my face as if to say "I'm home!" Then she jumped off to explore and walked nose first into the sliding glass door. A klutz like me! This had to be my dog.
Suki the week we adopted her. Ch. 2 - Her True Identity
The name Cookie would not do....I wanted something similar phonetically...it was a toss up between Sushi and Sake.....but the first would make me hungry and the latter would make me want to drink.....kampai! So Suki was the next logical choice....a fusion of both names. With her I could already see, the connection was so different and so intense.
Ch. 3 - The First Night
Ch. 4 - Runaway Suki
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