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This week we lost our long lost dog, Cookie.  Cookie had an amazing run of health over her lifetime, despite the fact that we bought her health insurance.  We had her 11 years, getting about 2 months after we got married.  Aviva still worked at Coopers & Lybrand and on their internal computer “message boards,” there was a posting for someone who had a dog looking to be adopted.  That Saturday, we got in the silver Hyundai, yes, we had a Hyundai, and drove to Queens.  We entered to see they had like 2 Rottweilers and this scruffy wiry haired pooch.  The woman owned the 2 rott’s and this other one was her brothers, her bother unfortunately had a drug relapse and was in some sort of therapy for that, the dog was just too much for him.  We met that dog and immediately knew she was the dog for us.  We grabbed her and headed back to Westchester (this is ~July of 1996).  We called her Cookie because she was black & white, like our favorite Zaro’s cookies. 

That would be the beginning of a wonderful friendship.  Cookie lived with us for 3 years before we had Mack and was always a member of the family in every sense of the word.  She slept in our bed for every night we had her, we even ditched the frame so she could jump onto the bed as she got older and a bit less spry.  She didn’t listen worth a lick, but always knew what we were up to.  They say terriers are stubborn, so we know she had a good bit of terrier in her.  At one point, she was sort of plump, but moving to Colorado, she got more active and remained nice and slender.  In NY, she used to run back and forth across Route 100, and even though she wasn’t real quick, she seemed to be living in a world where she was above petty worries of getting hit by an 18-wheeler.  She used to get ticks like mad in NY, but never really got sick from them.. She really was meant to live and long and vibrant life, I can’t explain it any other way.

She was good to the kids, and even when she snapped at them, it was a good lesson for them to not mess with dogs when they are eating.  She didn’t shed too much, rarely had accidents in the house, but most of all, was fun, funny, and a loving and wonderful pet.  For people without dogs, they just don’t know what they are missing, except when you lose your pet, then you really find out what you are missing – we’re missing her very badly.  As for Cookie, she was a cancer survivor, having a tumor removed last year and making it through chemo.. But this time, she got real sick real fast.. She was lethargic, shaking, and bleeding from her nose, it was clear whatever was ravaging her decided to turn it up of late.  Just last Saturday, she was herself for the most part, but by Sunday, her condition dropped considerably..

I took some of my favorite pics of her and made a tribute, below.. I also made a simple playlist of all of the videos I have on YouTube of Cookie.

This one is going to take some time for us to get over.. I think we’ll go to the Denver Dumb Friend’s League soon and get another dog, I want to start getting ready to miss another one, hopefully after another wonderful 11 years.  Cookie, we love you and miss you, I’d tell her to come home soon, but she never listened when she was alive, I doubt that would change.