Memories of Gerani

One of the things that has really helped my process of healing from Gerani's loss is that so many people knew her and loved her.  I feel like I got to share how wonderful she was with a lot of people.  It was almost like she wasn't just my dog but a lot of people's dog.  Still, I am blessed to have been the one to share the most with her.  I have a lot of great memories and little things that bring a smile to my face when I think about them.  I wanted to share some of them with you.

Pieces of Gerani that I want to remember forever:

~Calling her Roni, Ron-Ron or Ron-Ron-Roni-kins.

~How she liked getting her nails done.  She always reminded me of a woman enjoying a pedicure.

~Her sneaky ability to eat Whitman's food.  It's amazing he ate at all.

~How she made me look like an incredible dog owner and trainer.

~Our trip to Lego Land in California and how she grudgingly went on the rides with me.  Really she was much too mature to do kid stuff like that, but she was the only dog that went on every single ride and without getting scared.

~Our trip to the dog beach in California with other CCI dogs.  She would run with the group until they ran into the water.  Then you would see her break off and wait for them to come back out so she could run with them again.  At the end of the day she was the cleanest dog.

~How proud and beautiful she looked when she walked or pranced.  Especially when she'd just been groomed or brushed.

~How, as an older more mature dog, nothing scared her.  Such a transformation from when she was a puppy and a little bit of a nervous nelly.

~Her amazing balance in the car.  Sometimes I would zoom around an on ramp or go on a curvy road just to see her show off her amazing leaning abilities.  Gerani would just leeeeean and then straighten up while Whitman just fell over or slammed into the back of my seat.

~She was also the only dog trustworthy enough to ride in the passenger seat.  She looked very regal.

"Take me where I need to go."

~How, in the car, Gerani would just stick out the very tip of her nose.  Ladies don't hang their whole heads out the window.

~Her maturity and composure.  Sometimes she was even more mature than me.

~In her younger days, she could take on and conquer any other pup in a wrestling match.  No one ever messed with Gerani.

~Her shameless begging for treats from clients and apprentices alike.

~Bullying those apprentices by barking at them.  Or if the apprentice didn't know what they were doing she'd blow them off.  I was constantly saying, "Don't let that Golden Retriever do that!"

~Her paw.  She would paw you for attention.  It was so annoying but I miss that so much.

~How much Whitman loved her.

~Watching her play with Whitman was one of my favorite things.

~But she didn't need Whitman to entertain her.  She would play with her own tail.  As a pup, she would chase her tail.  As an older dog she would sit down and tug on her tail.  She's too smart to chase her tail; she figured out how to catch it!

Before she learned to just sit down and catch her tail.

~How peaceful she looked when she was sleeping.

~How she would lick the floor in the kitchen... even if there wasn't anything on it to lick.  Sometimes she would even lay on the carpet and lick it.

~She would ALWAYS find something soft to lay on.  She would even claw the carpet to make it a little fluffier.

~One of the times that she had me laughing the hardest was the one evening I was washing the dog bed covers.  So I took all the covers off the dog beds and piled up the inserts so that no one would lay on them until the covers were done.  I got distracted for a bit and when I next came downstairs, I found Gerani perched on the top of the pile of dog beds.  No one makes her lay on the floor if she doesn't want to.  It was the funniest thing.

Gerani on the pile of beds looking at me like "What are you looking at?"

~How she was dainty to a fault.  Always a lady.

~Here's a good story:  Gerani was such a well trained dog that I used her to keep an eye on Whitman.  One day when Whitman was a puppy, I took them for a walk around Ice Lake on the Air Force Academy.  Gerani was trustworthy off leash so, for some reason, I decided to tie the leashes together so Whitman was attached to her so he couldn't wander off.  We were walking peacefully around the lake when suddenly Gerani sees a bird out on the water.  The next few seconds happened in slow motion.  Gerani saw the bird and she took off.  There was this second when nothing happened then the leashes snapped and Whitman was yanked off his feet like a cartoon.  There goes Gerani into the water, swimming for that bird.  And there goes my young puppy Whitman getting dragged into the water like dead weight.  I thought for sure I'd just drowned my puppy.  I have never yanked my shoes off so fast so I could go in after them to save Whitman.  To this day, Whitman hates deep water.  Looking back on it now Gerani might have been trying to drown that annoying puppy I insisted she get along with.

~How she was BEST FRIENDS with Vallie and how she mourned for Vallie just as much as I did.

Gerani and Vallie.  My angels.

~How much she hated Whitman when I first brought him home.  He loved her from day one but she wanted nothing to do with him.  He would run after her outside and she'd keep just out of his grasp.  One of the reasons I brought Whitman home was Gerani was mourning Vallie so much that I feared I would lose her too.  Then I was really afraid when I brought this puppy home that she just despised.  But it was wonderful to see how close they grew.  Gerani was Whitman's best friend.

Gerani with Whitman as a brand new puppy.  She's like "oh God why?!"  That's one of the only pictures with her and him as a puppy because she wouldn't let him get near her.

~How every day I left the dogs home alone I would say "Gerani, you keep an eye on Whitman."  And I truly felt better that Gerani was there babysitting him.

~How she was always hungry and was always looking for food.  I couldn't walk through Lucky Dog without her scanning for a snack.  You would think I didn't feed her.

~How, when she got too hot, she would roll over on her back with one of her back legs up so her belly was exposed so she could cool off while she napped.

Ahhh cool belly.

~How even though she was very much a lady, she killed her fair share of field mice and baby rabbits in her day.  I'll never forget looking out the window and seeing Gerani in a field playing with something looking as happy as can be.  I went out there to see what she had and it was a field mouse, poor thing.  She would grab it, throw it high in the air and then pounce on it when it came back down.

~How she had the uncanny ability to go outside in ALL kinds of weather and not get a spot of dirt on her.  Whitman would be caked in mud and Gerani's feet would be pristine.

~How she would never walk through puddles.  She'd either go around or jump over them.

~How as soon as it rained she would start barking to come inside immediately!

~How she would lay down and then kick her left back foot out behind her and sigh.

~The moment I saw that fluffy puppy peering at me through the airplane crate and she was mine.

Awwww!

~The heart wrenching moment I handed her off to a CCI kennel attendant in California and watched her prance away.  I knew she had no idea we may not see each other ever again.

~The anticipation of waiting for a flight attendant to bring Gerani through the Denver Airport, finally coming home to me after being dropped from CCI.  God I remember she never looked more beautiful than she did in that moment that I saw her again after a year.

~Her hilarious "stationary left side".  Everyone always laughed how she would try it then have hop closer several times.

~How she wasn't a huge snuggler but when she did snuggle it was so sweet.

~How loud and vicious she sounded when she played.  Only a select few dogs were special enough for her to play with but when she did it sounded like they'd kill each other.  Thanks to her, I have another dog that plays the same way.  He'll probably teach my next puppy to play like that and it all started with Gerani.

~Her amazing ability to learn anything and everything in record breaking time.  She took a week to learn all the tricks in trick's class that Whitman couldn't pick up in six weeks.  She was so eager!

~How excited she was to do agility.  Anything for a hotdog!

~Her snore.  She would have been so embarrassed to know she snored.

~Her "Are you kidding me?" look.  You all know what I'm talking about if you knew her.

~How well loved she was by so many people.  She touched SO many lives.

~How she would let Whitman and Theo play and run past her a couple of times but get up and bark when they got too rowdy.  She could put an end to that crazy immaturity real fast.

~How judgmental she could be when I would dance around like a crazy person with Whitman.  She'd just sigh like she was so long suffering.

~How the faces of people would light up when I took her into nursing homes or hospitals.  She really showed how good her soul was when she was out working.

~How lucky I was to be her mom.

I would love for anyone and everyone to share their own memories of Gerani.  Anything that comes to your mind when I say her name.  Please send me a little note or reply if you have one you'd like to share.