Sassy was an 11 year old Maltese. We had been together for 9 years. She only weighed 9 lbs, but she had the heart of a lion. She was brilliant. Her "vocabulary" (not spoken, of course) was immense. I often joked that she was smarter than me because she had learned lots of English while I had learned almost no "doggish". If I said "go to your room" she did, and she stayed there until I said "out". If I gave her a treat and said "take this to your room" she did, and even while I was at work she never took the treats to forbidden areas of the house. When I said, "go outside" she trotted to the back door. When I said, "let's go to bed" she headed for the bedroom and stopped at the door to make sure I was coming, too.
If I said, "are you hungry?", she wagged her tail and barked and ran to the kitchen if she was hungry. Sometimes, when I knew she was hungry, I would tease her by saying, "are you...?" followed by a long pause. She would sit there looking SO exasperated. Then I'd finish with "... a little, white dog?" She would get so frustrated and look at me like, "no, that's not it, keep trying", like we were playing charades.
It has been very difficult living without my little friend.
This message was edited Aug 13, 2005 3:59 PM
