This girl turned 14 in human years last November. Doing the math, she is now just under 100 in dog years by 2 years. 98 for those of you searching for your calculators. She has surpassed my son’s age, my age, and my mother’s age. She’s an old coot now but continues to be her sassy, energetic and love-able self. I have thought about referring to her as the queen instead of the princess, but I’m not ready to transition my status in our relationship yet.
My son and I brought her home14 years ago when she was a pup. We of course had to think of an appropriate name for her personality and stellar looks (ahhhhh those soft haired and very precious ears!!). I was completely drawn to the name Lilly. I do think that name was a trend that year and it just felt right to me. That was until I had a “hold the phone” moment when my son tossed out the fantastic and unique name of Ninja. That name truly did meet her assertive and alpha personality. The name, and Ninja herself, were keepers. It was settled.
A memory I have from her toddler time was her insistence on eating gravel rocks in our driveway. That was a disturbing trend for her to just chomp on rocks. As her mother, and being a nurse, I obviously worried about her beautifully white puppy teeth and gastrointestinal (GI) issues. I still, to this day, do not know why she was obsessed with that activity for a short period of time. Thanks goodness we were able to distract and regroup her with, you guessed it, treats and that horrid habit ceased to exist. She was retrained prior to breaking any teeth or developing a bloody gut.
She was a pistol! Extremely active and did not always have her listening ears on. She developed a superb skill for tricks. Those included sitting pretty, gimme your paw, typical sit and lie down on request, holding a treat on her nose, paws or top of her head while mostly being able to wait until she was told she can “get it” and then devour her treat.
Time went by, as it does, and my son entered adulthood and moved out of our home. He could not bring his sister with him so of course she stayed with me. For quite some time, when he would come to visit, I was invisible to her and he was her pride and joy. As a matter of fact, in addition to my son being my pride and joy too, Ninja and I enjoy many other of the same things. We both like to hike, eat treats (hers dog or human, mine all human and mostly of the dessert variety), swimming, and sleeping on the bed, not the floor.
We both became ready and able to travel when the time arose. I was initially concerned about taking travel nurse assignments with Ninja, mostly because of housing. I did not realize the housing options available for rentals with dogs, or cats for that matter, are widely available. One must pay a pet deposit and sometimes an extra monthly rental fee, but she’s worth it. “Pets” is always listed as one of the check boxes in searches to easily remove the non-pet friendly selections from the search. Technology, most always our friend.
Speaking of housing, since we met, Ninja and I have lived in 9 different houses/rentals most of which during travel nursing. States include NH, CA X 2, NV, NC, CT, FL. She has dipped her paws in the Atlantic, the Gulf and the Pacific oceans. She has driven cross country with me from NC to CA. She loves riding shotgun, enjoying her Starbucks Puppaccino and barking at strangers who look at her mother while walking by the car when we’re parked at gas stations. She’s definitely got my back. She has been to the Grand Canyon with me, hikes on many National Park Trails and has been the greatest love bug to small children and adults alike. Well, other than some males who are wearing baseball caps, not all, just some. I can’t figure that one out.
It has truly been a joy traveling with my companion. We certainly have our moments, but she is a great dog! I hope when I am 98, I will continue to hike, swim, and lead an active lifestyle like my pooch. That being said, she is showing some signs of slowing down of late. She has been having some bilateral hip pain with some of our longer hikes. The hair on her face which used to be black now has some white creeping through around her eyes and nose seemingly all of a sudden. She also has lumps and bumps of different shapes and sizes over various parts of her body. It is obvious she is aging, as we all do. I will cherish her dearly until our time together must end. My best travel companion, protector and pain in the ass, Ninja.
What a sweet and funny article and tribute to your Sputnik!
When I was reading it to her, I could tell that she enjoyed it as well. .