He Was Great

i had a dog. his name was malik. he was great.

and i miss him so very terribly.

he saved my life. not once, but twice. well, actually, if you count the many times he reminded me to take my medications....  anyway, we had just bought our house, and i had taken part of the day off to scheduled all the service to be checked out and/or connected - gas, lights, cable, etc... and juan told me to take malik with me, give him a chance to check out the backyard since we hadn't actually moved in yet. all the workers cam and went, quite uneventful, until the cable guy came.

malik, 208 pounds at the time, a very lazy and unaffected creature, and in a way that was very much not like most dogs, normally could care less about most things, especially if they're humans talking business. but milliseconds before the doorbell rang, he went BANANAS. i - mean - B.A.N.A.N.A.S.  i had never seen him like that - barking and snarling and jumping. he was behaving in such a crazy way that i had to take him outside. while there, he ripped the screen door off and i was afraid he was going to break through the sliding glass door! malik clearly didn't like this guy, who kept begging me to come inside and go upstairs to show him what should go where. mind you, we hadn't moved in a stick of furniture yet, it was obvious where the connections were and there was nothing for him to take.

ultimately the guy finally left, discouraged and clearly afraid of malik. before he pulled away in his truck, i get a call from the cable company dispatcher saying their guy can't make it because the previous appointment ran over. almost on cue, malik, looking for an ear rub as reward for his performance, nudged me out of my shock and i was able to gather my wits about me and get part of the guys license plate and call the police. they caught him at the entrance of our subdivision. i won't go into too much more detail, but will say that that guy had been robbing, beating and molesting women in the area.

tears. he truly was great.

he had a way with ladybug that was just amazing. there's a commercial running now where this humongous great dane allows a little girl to dress him up and paint his nails. yep, malik. he was her body pillow, her pacifier, her partner in crime. when she was 2 years old and wanted a snack, she'd bat her eyes at him and he knew his mission. i always kept a bowl of fruit and her favorite crackers on the bar counter, and in only his stealth way, he'd get on his hind legs somehow and get her snacks. i still have no idea how he could do it.

and oh that face. that lazy, "ah, c'mon" or "who...me?", or "don't even think about grabbing that lead and talking ME for a walk" look.

i ache for him. tears.

there's a song that i've had on my ipod for at least a year, don't remember when or how i found it, but it's now used in a fabulous purina dog commercial. now, i don't mean to begrudge my cat loving friends and followers, but... there's just something about dogs. especially my dog. malik. and this song, along with the commercial, makes me miss him so much more.

he's been gone for almost 4 years now. but he's with me every moment. every day. 

i had a dog. and he was great.

Malik ~ 1996-2009