What To Do With A 15 Year Old Dino…

I ran across this little fella out in the yard the other week… resting under a bush… alone…

I don’t know the life span of dino’s these days – but I’m guessing that he’s really lived longer than most would have considering his condition.  He has suffered some loss of pink from spending too many hours in the sun and those mud baths have left some permanent staining in a few areas.  Although still pliable he did suffer an injury many years ago that left him with an opening that runs from his belly button around to his hip… the end result of that injury was to render him mute!

Even though he could no longer ‘sqeeeeeeeeek – SQEeeeeeek’ when you squashed him with your foot he was still much loved by our sweet old girl. This was her toy that she’d had since she was a puppy.  It’s been a few years since we’d throw it for her to chase – running wasn’t graceful for her any longer.  But she’d happily take it and walk off with it if you offered it to her. 

All her other puppy toys are long since gone – destroyed as only a growing dog can destroy.  But this dino was different – maybe because it’s a bit sturdier – but I think mostly because she loved it differently.  She really kinda babied it rather than chewed on it.  We did most of the squeeking of it… which would bring her running to rescue her toy from under our feet.  She use to jump and dance around as we stepped on it…. sqeeeeeek…. and as soon as we raised our foot and it would start the inhale ‘SQEeeeeek’ she’d lunge at it, snatch it from under our foot and run off.  She would then squeek it a few times herself to make sure it was OK and then proceed to lick and baby it for awhile.  Sure miss that sweet old girl.

I need to go this week and pick up her ashes… she was ready long ago - but I wasn’t… probably still not - but I’d hate it if she got lost at the vets office because I didn’t go pick her up.  We know where we will bury her… her favorite place in the yard to lay and watch the world go by.

The dino will sit in my kitchen window for awhile… it makes me smile… and cry…