Posts

Showing posts from March, 2008

Our Emma

Image
Emma, Summer of 2000, 4 Years Old Emma’s gone. She died at the end of January after a brief illness of severe arthritis combined with spinal stenosis that incapacitated all four of her legs. Twelve and a half is old for a dog like Emma whose mixed heritage of Sharpei, Pit Bull and Black Lab frightened more than a few passersby. But most saw her sweetness. The wrinkles surrounding her face and sleek brown/black coat combined into a regal beauty and loving demeanor. As a pup, she challenged us every day.  She ate batteries, table legs, one fur jacket, wood trim, plaster walls, and dismantled a steel cage. A constant moving target, she skittered up and down front stoops, sniffed bushes, and reversed direction halfway across a street. Emma moved from puppy hood to old age overnight. One day she leaped onto our bed, balanced on her hind legs to open the laundry room door for a drink and raced down the street to chase a squirrel. And then she didn't. In November, Emma refused t