If I remember correctly, we “acquired” my little miniature pinscher in 1999, one year after moving to Tallahassee. My mom’s sister found him on the streets in Orlando, and he was assumed to be under 1year old. Already house-trained, neutured, ears and tail clipped and perfectly trained, she posted signs all around the area trying to find the owners.
After a couple of months with no luck, she called my mom and asked if we wanted a dog. My dad was a bit apprehensive at the time, but him already being trained and whatnot, we decided to give it a go. I remember the first time he was brought home.
Sitting in the den on the computer, my mom comes into the apartment (our house was being built here in Tallahassee) and yells “Dante’s home!” They named him Dante after Dante Culpepper, who was UCF’s quarterback at the time, and because when you hear a dog named Dante, it can be pretty much guaranteed to be a big dog…And then here comes this little 9lb min-pin running into the room.
Dante would always lay at my feet while I was on the computer. Me and my parents would fight about who he got to sleep with. I usually won. The dog brought us all together in a time of stress after moving to this new place. I didn’t know anyone, but I had my little Dante.
He’s getting old now. By my calculations, he’s about 56 in dog years. He’s got gray hair that started sprouting up a couple years ago, that is now full-blown. We put him under surgery a couple years back for a slipped disc, and now we’ve got to be very careful with what we let him do. Where he can run (he slips on the hardwood floor, so we put out cloth mats throughout the house so he can navigate easier), what he can and can’t jump up on. He’s really limited now, but he’s still got the energy of a little pup.
It’s gonna be a very, very traumatic time when he eventually passes. I know it’s only a dog, but I’m a bit uncertain how I’m gonna deal with it when he goes. I’ve been fortunate in my life so far to only have to deal with the passing of one loved-one, so dealing with that is gonna be a challenge. My mom is gonna be devastated.
Anyway, I took a short video of him today while visiting my parents and thought I’d share it.
(Audio is messed up, gonna have to figure that out later)
