Today was Spirit’s last day.
I adopted this sweet little pup from the San Francisco SPCA in May of 2007 (nearly 14 years ago!) when she was perhaps a year old. I thought I was going in to adopt a larger dog, when this little runt of a terrier jumped up on my lap and stole my heart. The name on her adoption papers was Trinket, but my then-sweetheart Karen and I decided to rename her Peanut.
After training her and living in the Bay for a couple of months, we moved across the country, where she became “Peanut of Harlem,” joyfully chasing squirrels around Jackie Robinson Park and impressing New Yorkers with her ability to stay by my side off-leash, even on long city walks.
She has also gone affectionately Peep, Toot, and an ever-growing litany of other nicknames. Nutty. Tina. Tuti. Toodio. Badoodio. Steep. Li’l Peep. L’Peep. Pionyay. Mindonyay. Mindandoongeez. Bensondandoongeez. Benson. Benson Dan. Ted Danson. Tiny Dancer.
She would get so excited, dance around, and wiggle her little dog butt when it was time to go for a walk. She could fetch, sit, stay, give me five, lay down, roll over, stand, jump, go say hi, gung lai dow (go lay down), and give great smooches. She was timid and apprehensive around unfamiliar creatures, but also very kind and gentle.
When we move back to California in 2008 to take care of my father, we formed a pack with the dog he had adopted, Phyllis (who many of you know as Phoenix). Little Toot now had a sister, and we all went just about everywhere together.
Peep was there with me through thick and thin — the loss of my father, our stint in Oakland, moving back to Pacifica and working at the animal hospital, moving up to Lake County, and eventually splitting up with Karen. Somewhere in the healing process, as our little pack was re-wildling up there on Cobb Mountain, Peanut became Spirit, just as her sister Phyllis became Phoenix. We were all being reborn together, and these shaman doggies were present for many beautiful and sacred moments.
Spirit was there for the birth of Satya Rose and had a front seat to most of her childhood.
About a month before the 2015 Valley Fire, Spirit went missing. When the wildfires razed most of the nearby landscape, I thought I’d never see her again. But eight months later, right before I moved to Sonoma County, I got a call from Animal Control that she’d been found. Thankfully, she was chipped. She was looking scruffy and a little underweight — apparently she had been spotted hanging around the back of a furniture store in Lakeport— but she ran right to me just like she had at the SPCA all those years ago.
Spirit the Brave was back. Great Spirit. Gran Espiritu. My Original. Reginald. Li’l Reggie.
As Satya and I moved into our next home in Santa Rosa, Peep was ready to enter a new phase of her life: retirement. She was presenting as more of a tired, wizened elder dog (although she continued to dance before walks and hold some pretty impressive cartwheel handstands while elevating her hind legs to pee on things). It also just so happened that my mother Coralyn back in Pacifica (who had also just retired) was ready — not only for a pet, but for the next great love affair of her life.
For the last five years, my mom and Spirit have been inseparable. This dog has been spoiled by the best food, easy walks, and lots of love. Mom even added a few nicknames to Toot’s growing list. (Bombadino, Bombaladino, Dino, Bamba, Little D, Spiri, Spirituino, Torino, and Peanuttio, to name a few.)
Over the last few years, we’ve had frequent opportunities to get the ol’ pack together for some beautiful journeys. Just last week, my mom and her Bamba came up for a visit — and though she struggled a bit at first, Spirit ultimately enjoyed an awesome 2.5-miler at Crane Creek. But that was her last hurrah.
I came down to Pacifica last night when it became clear that Spirit was in rapid decline — to support my mother, and so Phoenix and I could say goodbye. And this evening, a wonderfully supportive traveling vet came by the house to ease Spirit’s transition. She had clearly been in pain and disoriented, and it is already a relief to know that her suffering has come to an end.
Here’s to a very sweet dog that will be missed.
You’re a good girl, Toot.