This week I am giving the TB spot to an old friend. Roy is a LA transplant from the Midwest, a retired stock broker… and a dog lover. He writes about Tuppy coming into his and his wife’s lives in 1982, after the death of their beloved Crumpet.

Tuppy’s life was uncomplicated and privileged… marred only by the Clinton/Lewinsky televised sex scandal hearings… and the looming fear of a major stock market correction.

RIP, Tuppy. 

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Tuppence Angela  1982-1998 

 

Tues., Oct 6, 1998

Tuppy came into our household on Saturday, October 23, 1982 as “X SKYE TERRIER/BEIGE/BLK—F/SPAYED”. We had lost our pal Crumpet on October 1 of that year and the missing sound of pitter-patter on our hardwood floors was unbearable. Neither one of us could tap dance to substitute for the real thing. On that Saturday morning, I went to all of the West Los Angeles pounds – shopping – for the new pitter-patter. 

At the Santa Monica shelter I saw her. Our eyes met and it was love at first sight. However, I needed to be rational so I took her for a test drive. They gave me a short bailing twine to put around her neck. 

She walked well. The wheels seemed aligned.  The engine was running smoothly. And she passed the smog check.  

In the current religious views of the Southern Baptists, I also needed to test her for her “submit, woman!” attitude. I picked her up and held her belly side up. She looked at me with total trust.

Yes, I thought, she would submit. 

I told the desk that I would take her but needed to rush home to get my wife’s approval. They informed me that “this dog” would not be here by noon. She was special and someone else would surely take her by then. So I then made my vow, right then and there, that I would give her a good life.  

My wife first saw “this dog” in our kitchen after returning from a day with her mother. She didn’t think she was quite ready to move on and needed more time to grieve the loss of Crumpet. But it took one day (maybe less, actually) for her to become totally attached and forever at Tuppy’s service. 

***

Tuppy figured out that my wife would feed her, and I would take her on the hard, long walks and bath her. That said, when we were in unsure surroundings she always came to me to be protected. Yes, Tuppy, whose IQ was on the wrong side of the Bell Curve, knew that women nurture and men protect.  

Since she was spayed before she could do anything about it, she was puzzled with all of the national news she was hearing on TV. She wondered what would happen to Buddy, who is also spayed, if William Jefferson is run out of town. How could the powers in Washington allow Buddy to be “neutralized” but not William Jefferson? 

She blushed when she first heard the details of the blue dress on the public airwaves, and became totally confused by the term “to completion” – since she could only imagine being sexual.

As a result of the whole affair, she started to watch Animal Planet, which had no warnings of graphic language and parental guidance.

***

During the past year Tuppy could not take her regular walks, even though her appetite was good and her nose was cold and wet. Her face was that of a teenager, but she had spine problems and needed a personal valet to do her numbers outside. 

In retrospect, Tuppy came to us in the autumn of 1982 when the Dow Jones was under 900. She had always been a X Generation “buy and hold” investor and was not used to downtrends or adversity. I think she sensed that the market had topped out and the stress of losing assets would be too much for her, at her age, considering her current infirmities. 

My wife and I knew she was entering the end of the 9th inning of with no chance for extra innings. Our constant dilemma of picking the exact “right moment” was here. If not now, when? In the end we timed it best we could – for her sake. 

As the 60s song reminded us, one is only free if one has nothing to lose. As in most matters of life, what gives one the greatest pleasures also gives one the greatest grief, when lost. 

The joy of having Tuppy with us for 16 years cannot be put into words by anyone. It’s true: it has been much better to have loved and lost than to not have loved at all. And Tuppy was truly loved by everyone who met her.