Over time there have been hero dog stories, like Lassie and Rin TinTin.
My own hero dogs (real dogs) were from childhood. Laurie, a deaf Dalmatian who would respond to our hand signals and who would nip at neighbor Steven’s pant legs when he’d ride his bike around our circle driveway, calling to my brother to come out and play.
And our little Fox Terrier, Sparky, who would shiver if the temperature dropped below 78F. Sparky would sometimes curl up on the end of my bed and he’d refuse to get off. In fact, he’d growl when I tried to push him off so I’d have to call down to my mom to come get Sparky. “Mom! Mom!”
One Michigan winter night neither Laurie nor Sparky came home for dinner. The snow was deep and we knew something was wrong because Sparky would never be out in the snow for more than the time to do his duty.
My stepfather, John, bundled up and set out to find our bonded pair of pups. It was dark before he came home with both dogs, who promptly curled up next to the fireplace with its blazing fire.
John told us of how he found Laurie. Of course, he couldn’t call her due to her deafness, so he called Sparky. He finally found them quite a way from our house (which was out in the country with only two other houses nearby). Laurie was stranded on a small island across a stream, parts of which had been frozen and not frozen. Sparky was holding vigil on the opposite bank. John said it was an amazing sight to see that little Fox Terrier who hated the cold waiting for his best friend to get rescued off the island.
Late in Laurie’s life my parents made the decision to put Laurie down when life became unbearable for her. They did this and then told my brother and I about it afterward. I was so distraught that I cried for days. I hadn’t been given the chance to say goodbye. Sparky, too, was distraught and didn’t seem to eat for days upon days. He moped around for months. It was only when a Beagle stray (we named her Penny) came to us that Sparky came back to life.
I made my mom promise to never euthanize Sparky without letting me know. I was married and a mother myself when I got the first call to go home quickly because Sparky was in bad shape. I did rush home and Sparky perked up when he saw me. That happened two more times and still Sparky survived. I released my mom from her promise and eventually Sparky died in his sleep. Sweet boy.
I remember one night when I was a teen and Sparky barked relentlessly when my mom and I were home alone. Since we lived out in the country, far back from the road, a dirt road, there were no outside lights except for our porch lights. There wasn’t anyone prowling around that we could tell, but I used to have nightmares about that situation where we ran around locking all the doors (there were five doors that led to the outside). The nightmare was trying to lock the last door!
I’ve had dogs in my adult life that have been my heroes. All of them for one reason or another, but none as dramatic as Laurie and Sparky; they topped the charts.
What was a girl to do?…I recently found out from my best friend neighbor, Joanne, (from back then) that Sparky impregnated her dog. Twice! So that’s where all the cute puppies came from!
Lucy Llewellyn Byard is currently a columnist for the Record-Bee. To contact her, email lucywgtd@gmail.com
