MEMORIES

I found Oliver in quite the same way that you found Odie. I never thought I would want a "dog in the house"...too messy I thought. The one day, my ex-husband and I decided to stroll into a mall pet store. I have always loved animals & those pet stores always made me sad...I am a sucker for punishment. Well, up in a cage, all by himself, was this tiny little adorable 8 week old beagle, who was crying because he could not reach his water container. That bothered me, so I decided I wanted to hold him. When I did, he put his head on my shoulder, and calmed down...it was all over then! I just didn't know it yet. Well, we decided to put him back, and walk through the mall, all the time pondering about whether a dog was a good idea. We had just gotten married the month before and were both pretty young (23).

We kept trying to talk ourselves out of it, but decided to walk by the
pet store one more time. Oh No! Two little boys were laughing and holding this little beagle! I couldn't bear it, and as soon as they put him back, he was mine...no questions asked! This was a big expense for me at this stage of my life...buying a purebred beagle and all of his accessories! However, from that day on, Oliver was never denied much of anything, especially good healthcare.

So, in October of 1986, Oliver (took a few days to come up with
that name/after Oliver Wendell Holmes/poet) came home, and has been by my side ever since. I never knew you could love something so much. I know he has helped me become a great mom. Even my ex husband (of 10 years) and I are still friends, and he always loved Oliver, even from a distance. He was very saddened by the news recently. There was no question, even in divorce, where Oliver belonged. It was with me. I still have his "baby" picture in my wallet, from his first day at home, where it has been for almost 14 1/2 years now.

Oliver was the funniest, silliest, most loving dog, with a definite
personality...up until the day he passed on. I miss him terribly.

When I was around 14 years old, I remember my Dad taking me to see some Beagle puppies. The Beagle pup we brought home was the one poking his nose into a 20 pound bag of dog food. Hence, we named him Pokey.

When Pokey and Scooter started living together, they each had their own dog house. Scooter was at least twice as big as Pokey so his dog house was bigger than Pokey's.

Now Pokey and Scooter weren't exactly friends. They more or less tolerated each other since they had to live together. If at all possible, I really think they tried to think of things to annoy each other. Pokey, of course, had to be careful since Scooter was so much bigger than him. One of the things Pokey did was steel Scooter's house. Scooter couldn't fit in Pokey's house and when Scooter came out of his own house for some reason, Pokey darted in. There was nothing Scooter could do but look in. It was really funny to watch them.

We have some property with quite a few trees. This is why Meeka loved playing chase and run so much, because she could run and run, and when she felt like it she would hide behind a tree, or at least she thought she was hiding, her wagging tail always gave her away.

ONE OF MEEKA'S FAVORITE GAMES

One of Meeka's favorite games was to hide under the bed, (of course I knew that's where she was) and make me search for her. So I'd sit down on the bed and say" I wonder where Meeka is?" and about that time I'd here her tail thumping, and out she would come, jumping and happy, acting like she had just pulled off the biggest hide and seek joke of all time. It was so funny.