Good Bye Sweet Girl.

 

On Monday Nov 18 we put our sweet Chicha to sleep. She has been sick since the summer and there was pretty much nothing we could do except prolong her suffering. 

It's a tough decision, you don't want to see your furry friend go, but you don't want them to live in pain either. 

Letting go is never easy, but I feel content because damn, Chicha had an awesome life. Chicha was fiercely loved by everyone in the family. 

I want to save the good memories but I also want to call out that Chicha transformed our lives. No lie, no exaggeration, we changed thanks to her. 

Before Chicha I didn't think I had it in me to love a dog. The wife and I considered ourselves cat people. 

Chicha is the whole reason my wife got into the dog-sitting business in the first place, we were looking for someone to take care of Chicha the first time we flew back to Florida after the Seattle move, the Rover App asked her if she was interested in being a pet-sitter herself, next thing you know, we're running a side-gig in Rover watching people's dogs. 

Chicha was there since our youngest was 5 and the oldest 7. They basically grew up with her. 

We met so many wonderful people and dogs thanks to Chicha and the dog business. 

Chicha was a well-behaved, friendly, mellow dog. 

Here's a list of my favorite memories and things about Chicha.

Nicknames

Chicha was named after the Venezuelan drink made with rice milk and cinnamon. 

Her nicknames were Cha, ChaCha, SalChicha, Best Doggy, Best Doggy For Real and Best Doggy For Real For Real. 

Origin Story

Chicha was one year old when we got her. A Co-worker and friend of mine could not take care of her anymore because she traveled a lot so she asked me if I wanted her, I talked to the wife and she said yes, I believe it was supposed to be a two week trial period, but after the first day we knew she would stick around. 

First Day

I remember the day that they dropped her off, I'll never forget my neighbor asking the old owner's husband at the time (English is not his first language, or second) if Chicha was an English Bulldog. 

"No, she's British Bulldog" replied the man. I was dying trying not to laugh. 

Naughty Acts

Within a week of being at our home Chicha got to my wife's shoe collection. Let me tell you something, if there were a fire at the house my wife would have saved her shoes before saving me, for sure. When she moved out of her house she had two bags, one bag of clothes and one large bag of all her shoes. These were nice, dressy high heels. Not cheap. Well, Chicha got to them, all of them. She ate them, ate the heels to be precise, one shoe per pair, all pairs.  When I found out about it I thought she was done, to my utter surprise my wife was like, "no, it's my fault, I should have closed the bedroom door" I knew then, that Chicha was going nowhere. 

Chicha never met a trash can she didn't like. One time we put old cookie dough in the trash only to find the trash can turned over and only like an ounce of cookie dough on the floor, she managed to eat a whole bowl's worth of raw dough. What happened next was not pretty, I had never cleaned vanilla-smelling vomit before. Now I have. 

Chicha pushed my wife's grandma into the fountain at Mizner Park. That was a crazy day. 

The moment Chicha won me over

Chicha and I moved to Seattle first. She kept me company those first couple of months. Before then she was never allowed on the furniture. My first night in Seattle, she casually jumped on the bed and laid down next to me. I was won over. 

Chicha climbed Mount Si. 

She did, she was a trooper, she was atheletic during her prime, she made the whole trip without many breaks, 8 mile round trip with 3200 feet of elevation gain. 

Chicha met the Author of Fight Club

Chuck Palahniuk is a Seattle native author. He was very impressed.

Chicha went on road trips.

Disney World, Jacksonville, Oregon Coast, San Francisco she was a good sport.

Chicha didn't like working at Amazon

Chicha was mellow at home, but at the office she was not comfortable. I could not leave her side or she'll start to bark, which was not normal for her. Here she is with Draco before he took the mandatory training on sexual harassment.

Chicha liked being in the water

She went out to Lake Union more than once, she was very happy to be outdoors.

Chicha loved the attention

If you paid to much attention to another dog, she would get in between you and the dog. It was hilarious.

Chicha knew how to open the gate to her corral

Link to video

Chicha was a big sister

I was holding Chicha when she left us.

The vet came to our house, our Furbo caught the whole thing, which was kinda morbid IMO. We took pictures, but they are not for sharing. All I can say is that I feel thankful that I was able to hold her and say good bye.


Good bye Chicha. Thanks for all the love.

My Daugher Wrote A Poem about Chicha

last day

we sit with traces of her on our clothes 

up and down goes her inflating lungs with any bit of energy she has left 

inevitable. 

whether our choice or hers we knew this day was coming

knees to chest i sat against a wall wondering how i’ll live without her

haven’t seen my dad cry so hard, as if his own child is dying which in a sense, it is

remembering when she would crawl on and almost crush me; pushing her and banning her from my room i would give anything to bring that back, the privilege of jumping onto my bed, never wanting to stop playing my tug of war or digging into the trash bin; my young girl

growing up alongside me my childhood is over, marking the end, she closes her eyes and lets out one last breath

Gvillalta