Heaven is a tropical island made of waffles and turkey

Today (3/29/08) we had to put my sweet little Sproutie to sleep. She was 112 dog years old and things were slipping fast.

We got Sprout at the Humane Society about 12 years ago. They told us she was 4 years old. The people that brought her in brought 11 other dogs that looked JUST like her. They had dogs that had puppies, that had puppies, that had puppies.. she was probably totally inbred. We brought her home with knotted fur to her paws and chucked her in the tub. Under all that hair was this tiny little Sprout of a dog.

She was such a quirky little mutt. She was absolutely terrified of snowmen, balloons and wrapping paper tubes. She LOVED to lick ears, we hated that! We once left her with our neighbor and her two cats for a weekend. When we returned, Sprout was laying on her back and both cats were preening her belly...She was a lover of all non-dog animals!

Sprout only liked three other dogs: Gus, Scotty and Rukkus. Our next door neighbor recently got 2 Golden Retriever puppies that she Hated! I swear, if she had any teeth left, their dogs wouldn't have faces. She bit them every chance she got, cranky old girl!

We got her when we lived in a little condo. She loved laying in the sun, must have been the arthritis. She scratched a huge hole in the screen to our tiny balcony and would lay out there for hours. One day I came home from work to find Sprout asleep on the couch and a fat, gray pigeon at her food bowl in the kitchen. I sort of freaked which woke Sprout up. The pigeon hopped to the door, through the screen and flew away. Sprout was amazingly comfortable with the whole situation leading me to believe that bird had done this before!

Once we left her with my Mother-in-law while Dave and I left town. She forgot her name and called her Snuffalufagus for a week. Poor Sprout didn't answer to HER name for weeks! For some reason No One could remember her name!

Some of my favorite screw ups were...

Spit
Scout

Sprite

Squid

Squirt

Condo

Also, everyone thought She was a boy...even the vet today. I guess Sprout isn't the most feminine name, that - and - all dogs are boys and all cats are girls.

Anyway, I could have never asked for a better pet! She was so gentle with all children, so good to me and our family. She went so peacefully, for that I am thankful. I know that her heaven is comfy, really warm and full of waffles. I know that Gus was waiting for her and since turkey was his favorite, I'm sure there are mountains of that on the island as well.

I love you Sprout! I will miss your cold little nose on the back of my leg, constantly needing to step over you (did I mention that she was blind as a bat?) and the way you were always on my lap or any lap you could find! I'm so glad to know you are at peace! Tell Gus 'Hi' from me!