My Uncle’s Dog

My uncle’s chihuahua, Bandit, passed away this week but the whole story about the last half (or more) of Bandit’s life is pretty interesting.

Both my aunt and uncle were/are dog lovers. My aunt, Dorothy, passed away six years ago.

Bandit was a rescue dog and I think they had him five years before we spent Christmas with my uncle after Dorothy had passed away. When they got Bandit, he wasn’t in good shape. He had a serious heart condition and the vet didn’t expect him to live much longer but I’m thinking he lived at least 10 years with my uncle.

Bandit was Dorothy’s baby and he loved her. He was a bit snippy and never friendly with most other people so I had never gotten close to him. We were at my uncle’s for a week or so in the summer of 2014. Bandit fell in love with Vince. None of us could believe it because they had never seen Bandit just want to be so close to someone besides Dorothy, nor had Vince ever been much of a dog lover. We left there with Vince wanting a chihuahua. We had Speck. He was about 13 years old at the time, and not crazy mean but not terribly friendly so we weren’t sure getting a tiny puppy with Speck would be a good idea. And, Vince was still working. I spent most of my time in the sewing room (which was not part of the house) and there was so much in there that a puppy would get into so I wasn’t crazy about the idea of adding a puppy. Vince looked around and I can’t remember if he couldn’t find one or decided it wasn’t a good time to get one.

Then, in October 2014, I went outside and . . there was a chihuahua in the driveway. I tried to get her to come to me and she wouldn’t. I was leaving the next day (still living in Texas) to go to MO. I told Vince . . I saw a chihuahua in the driveway but she wouldn’t come to me so I left water outside for her. I knew other wild critters would get food but suggested that while I was gone, if he wanted to put food outside and kinda watch it and see if she would come back. I knew none of our neighbors had chihuahuas. We had no close neighbors but the three houses closest to us didn’t have a chihuahua and it was miles (like 10 or more miles) to the next house. Vince ended up catching her in a live trap, she escaped when he was trying to get her out. It took him another couple of days but he caught her again and . . we had ourselves a chihuahua.

Anyway, Bandit’s health has been failing. He was diagnosed with glaucoma and ended up going blind. My uncle has taken such good care of him. When I talked to my uncle last week, he told me that he thought Bandit wasn’t going to be with him much longer. My cousin told me this morning and told me that Bandit passed away yesterday. When I was talking to my uncle, he said “I’ve taken such good care of Bandit because Dorothy loved him so much. I said “No, you took good care of him because that’s the kind of person you are!” He loved Bandit too but I think he was surprised at how much Bandit took to him after Dorothy was gone.

It’s interesting to me that Speck passed away the day before Dorothy passed away (and no, I’m not comparing the loss of a dog to the loss of a wonderful lady) and that Vince wanted a chihuahua after spending time with Bandit and we got one.

It was four years after Speck died before we got Oscar. I kept thinking . . a chihuahua showed up when Vince wanted one . . why doesn’t a dachshund show up?? Didn’t happen that way but now we have all the dachshunds we’ll ever need!

I know all dogs go to heaven . . because Chad watched that movie so much as a child that we all have it memorized. If dogs go to the same heaven where humans go, then Dorothy and Bandit are together again and very happy to see each other again.