This Time Last Year

This time last year was a nightmare. 2011 hasn't been that kind to me yet, but the beginning of 2010 was AWFUL! Christmas night 2009 my five year old baby Dodger was hit and killed by a car at my mother's house. He died in my arms a few moments later. I really can't say more than that without crying, but it was like someone ripped my heart out. I could barely eat or move for days and just getting on with life was so hard. Every day was awful without him and everywhere I looked I could see Dodger or was reminded of something he did.

My wonderful coworkers got me this plaque because they knew how much Dodger meant to me. It was very touching and I will always cherish it.

Dodger really was my baby because I had had him since Brad I were first married and he was my little side kick during the years in CA when Brad travelled a lot and worked very long hours.

When we moved to SC and I started working from home Dodger became even more of a shadow to me because I was home all day and night. We were literally together almost 24 hours a day, everyday.

I still miss him so much and I have several constant reminders of him throughout my house.

His loss was so significant to me and so shocking that getting over it was nearly impossible. I thought I would have Dodger for 20 years. I thought he would not only meet our children, but be a big part of their lives and he would be there as they wrestled him in his younger years and snuggled with him in his old man years. Brad and I miss Dodger so much but we do believe that dogs are in heaven and we will see him again one day.

Everyone in my family loved Dodger - especially my nephew who said "Dodger" as one of his first words and went through a stage where all he wanted was to hug Dodger. Dodger always had a slight look of terror in his eyes while being hugged by Grayson, but he was a good sport.

A lot of people say that they don't want another dog when their dog dies, and I think every situation is different. But for me, my house seemed so empty and I could barely stand to be by myself. I also suffered from a lot of guilt over Dodger's death and so I felt very strongly that if I could not save my baby, I would save another dog's life. Brad and I searched through a lot of online rescues and finally found one that we liked. After we put in an application, we were contacted almost immediately by the lady from the SC division of the National Yorkie Rescue. She brought two dogs to our house and let us meet them. One dog stood out to us. He was petite, beautiful and the perfect picture of what a Yorkshire Terrier should be. We didn't pick him. He was standoffish and barked - a lot. Instead, we went with the bigger, crazier looking dog that was so sweet and immediately bonded with us.

His name was Tyson, but we changed it to Boomer, haha! It sounds weird, but he never really responded to that name anyway so I'm not convinced that was his real name. Boomer was SO different than Dodger! I was actually kind of sad at first because he acted like he did not like us. He would sit near us, but not touching us. He wouldn't eat for days no matter what kind of food or treats I offered him. He acted really, really sad.

I didn't know what was going on with this dog until my mom told me that Dodger used to act the same way when we would leave him at her house occasionally. So, we gave it a few more weeks and he started to perk up. Nowadays I can't imagine life without Boomer. He is my new shadow and I know Dodger would be glad that Boomer is taking care of his Mama!

This is Boomer after a recent snow day!

Actually, I would say that Boomer is more attached to me than Dodger was, if that's possible. He really will not leave my side and he pretty much has to be touching me at all times if I'm sitting down or asleep.

He loves to wear clothes. When we first got him last January I had a couple of sweaters of Dodger's and when I bent down to put one on Boomer he went crazy just jumping all over the place! He still loves to wear sweaters and we have bought him several sweaters throughout the year.

I call this Boomer's "over the shoulder, eye smolder" pose!

I used to withold from buying Dodger a lot of doggie stuff, but now if I see something that I want Boomer to have I ususally buy it. I figure their lives are too short and I wish now more than ever that I had bought Dodger more toys and treats in his short little life. So, Boomer is living the high life on my past regrets!

This was about five seconds after laying his new bed on the ground. I didn't even have a chance to cut the tag off!

Surprisingly, Boomer actually helps keep Dodger's memory fresh and alive in my mind. They are similar because obviously they are the same breed, but Boomer is much lazier than Dodger ever was. Boomer never plays except every blue moon he will find a sock on the ground and run around with it for about thirty seconds. We don't know how old Boomer is, but his lack of playtime makes me think he is a little older, maybe 8 or 9ish.

Yes, he sleeps under the covers. When he gets cold at night he will scratch on my shoulders for me to lift up the blanket and let him under. It works because (a) it hurts and (b) I'm usually dead asleep so I don't even know what's going on. He loves to cuddle in blankets as you can see from some of the pics.

Boomer is more of a sissy than Dodger. Dodger thought he was a tough dude and L-O-V-E-D to play with other dogs. Hated cats. But loved dogs so much that he would wait every afternoon on our back porch for our neighbors to come by with their big dogs so he could bark and invite them into our backyard to play. Every day he did that! It was really amazing that he knew what time to expect them to come by. Boomer barely notices other dogs if he sees them and he's been known to growl at dogs who try too hard to introduce themselves. He loves cats, and in fact there is a black cat who wanders around our neighborhood and I call her Boomer's girlfriend because he's friendlier to her than he is other dogs! But the one thing Boomer cannot stand is....SQUIRRELS! We have these big window doors all across the back of the house and all day Boomer watches from the couch and if he sees just one fluffy gray tail he goes NUTS! It's actually quite annoying when you are on a conference call with your boss and your dog is barking like a madman. He will not stop, though. No matter what you try. Thankfully I just open the door and he flies out to go chasing squirrels that he never, ever catches.

Dodger loved walks, but he wasn't so great at walking on a leash because he would stop at anything over a foot high to sniff it or pee on it. He also had some stomach issues and had to be on expensive prescription dog food. I couldn't really feed him anything except for his food or carrots that we gave him as treats. Boomer on the other hand is even more well-behaved than Dodger. He walks better on a leash and basically never has accidents in the house. He also doesn't bark at company as much as Dodger did.

Now that I have Boomer, I will probably never get another puppy. Having such a wonderful experience with getting an adult dog has been awesome! Boomer came with built in manners and house-training (whoo-hoo!). It took a few weeks for him to warm up to us, but other than that it is like he's always been with us.

All in all, Boomer is a wonderful addition to our family and I am so happy that we've had him for over a year now. But he's not a replacement dog. Dodger was one of a kind and will forever be remembered as my oldest fur baby. I love you and miss you so much Dodger!