Piper’s Final Days and the Following Weekend

Last month I had to make the gut-wrenching decision of when to bring Piper to the vet one last time. Without a doubt the hardest decision I’ve faced and even up to the very last moment, I still wasn’t sure about the timing. My dad was with me, at the request of Piper, of course. She wanted her favorite grand dog dad there, probably because she knew I’d be a mess because I’d been a mess all day. All week, really. Carrying her everywhere not as much because she needed it but because I did. I needed her close. I had to feel her warmth. Pet her course fur. Twirl her ears. Nap with her, not totally sure when it would be our last nap together. I still remember our first nap together.

After bringing her home, in the first week or so I’d called my sister in a little bit of a panic, wondering if Piper was going to need my attention all day every day. My sister helped calm my anxiety and sometime around then, maybe the next day or the next, I needed a nap. So naturally, I just laid flat on my stomach on the carpeted living room floor. Piper curled up between my legs and there we were, taking our naps together… a habit that went on for the next 15 years.

I’ve never been a decisive person. How was I supposed to take this step with Piper’s life? It’s all I could think about and as I contemplated everything, Thursday kept coming to my mind. It’s not the day I wanted, heck I wanted Piper to live forever. But it was her health. Her not eating. Not being able to walk or barely standing up at all. Thursday. I called the vet to ask about Thursday. Who’s ever ready for that kind of vet visit? I certainly wasn’t. A few last nights of sleep. A few last snuggles.

The veterinarian, the vet techs, the staff were all so gracious, respectful, giving Piper the dignity a good beagle deserves. Thursday. The same day Hulk Hogan died and somehow I thought that was fitting for Piper since I was her #1 Piper-maniac.

Piper with my niece

A couple of sweet things happened the weekend following. Anyone that knows me probably knows I like to dance. Contra dance specifically. These occasions happen twice a month, every other Friday. It so happened that the Friday after the Thursday there was a dance. If I had ever needed smiling faces, fun dances, and a couple of hours to lose myself in music and do-se-do’ing my neighbor, that was it. Like I said, those dances happen twice a month, sometime’s only once a month if there’s a holiday or bad weather (hurricane’s and whatnot, since we’re in Florida after all). Two weekends in a row NEVER happens. But for whatever reason on this weekend, there was not just one dance. There was another one on Saturday night, too. Two nights in a row, what!? Two dances on two consecutive nights and I needed that second one as much as I needed the first.

That would have been enough but then Sunday at church one of my favorite singers was on stage helping lead worship. I don’t even know this person but it’s a voice that honestly makes me stop singing just so I can listen. It’s as if God knew exactly what I’d need, go figure! As sad as I had been about Piper and the whole week of deciding with what to do, that voice and all the dancing was a simple reminder that everything was going to be OK.

I didn’t want to say goodbye. I wanted Piper to be happy again. I wanted her to run again. To eat again. I wanted one more night with her. One more weekend. I still miss her so much and I’m so grateful I got to call her mine for her whole life. She was a challenge don’t get me wrong, she made me work, but she will always be my #1 first pup. I can hardly believe my life doesn’t include her anymore. But there will be more dances. More church singing. More sweet memories that make it a little more bearable.

I love you Piper. You were the bestest of beagles and I hope you’re chasing all the rabbits in Heaven. Today’s post is one of 15 I’m writing to celebrate and remember Piper’s 15 years on earth. Here are the first 5…

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

She’s Gone Forever.

The Heat Is On

You Make Me Wanna Roll My Windows Down and Cruise

The Beginning of An Era

-Out of the Wilderness

Piper Part 5… T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

If you’re just jumping in with these Piper posts, I’ll catch you up real fast. Last week my awesome, adorable, mischievous beagle Piper went on to her next life: being awesome, adorable, and mischievous in Heaven. We were together for 15 years, her birthday was September 10th 2009, born with a litter of puppies in Franklin, Tennessee. When I say that adopting her was and will always be one of my favorite things about life on earth, we don’t really have time to go over all the reasons why. But she was special, I’ll leave it at that. As a way to celebrate Piper, I’m writing 15 posts since she was 15 years old. This is the 5th, here are the first four.

Piper – She’s Gone Forever.

Piper – The Heat Is On

Piper – You Make Me Wanna Roll My Windows Down and Cruise

Piper – The Beginning of An Era

Piper had a nose for rabbits. There wasn’t any other animal she was interested in chasing. Not deer. Not squirrels. Oh, she did like to dig for moles. The first video is her very strong drive for rabbits, then a pic of her and Asia on the hunt for a mole.

But she also had a nose for trouble. If there was a way she could shake things up (or just break things 🥴) she would find it. She was the beagle version of Dennis the Menace. I guess in a way it was part of her charm. She could be super sweet one minute and the moment you turn your head, she’s knocked down your plate of dinner. But I could never stay mad at her for long. That face. Those ears. She worked it to get back in my good graces every single time.

This first incident was when we were living in the camper, she was around 14 years old. I had stepped out of the camper for a moment and came back to find this.

While it’s a funny story now, in the moment wasn’t anything but. She was panting and if something was done quickly, she might’ve run out of fresh air. Plus, the rim of those treat jars is very rigid so removing it took some thinking. The first step was to make a hole so she can breathe good air. After that, the process of removing it took precision, scissors, and patience from both myself and Piper. Thankfully, we were able to remove it and of course, it should be said that every single treat that was in the jar was gobbled up by Piper, which is the whole reason she got her head stuck in the first place!

My dog ate my homework. This literally could be the excuse my niece used at school if she had wanted to. One day, which was a lot like many other days, a Piper left to her own devices led to mischief in the most epic fashion. Opening cabinets, chewing toilet paper, or in this case– making a mess of school books and notepads! Piper had a few unsupervised minutes in the back yard and she made the best of it. She found school work after my niece had been studying back there. And Piper has always loved eating paper. So why wouldn’t she take this opportunity to have a meal?

If this picture had a title, it would be “That time I chewed up a book from the library.” I don’t think I need to explain anymore about this one, pretty much nailed it with her look and the torn pages, huh?

The little ragamuffin was resourceful, too. I’ll conclude today’s post with two pictures. The first one shows how determined she is to get what and get where she wants. The last photo is my attempt to keep her from getting what and getting where she wants. How many pieces of furniture does it take to thwart the plans of a beagle? If you know, comment below because nothing I ever did really ever worked. 🐶🧗🏻‍♀️

-Out of the Wilderness

Piper Part 4 – She’s Gone Forever.

January 2010. That was when I became a dog dad to the cutest little beagle puppy. Happy Tails, where she was before I adopted her, had named her Piper and I thought it was the absolute perfect name so when we became a family of two, I didn’t change her name. Piper. The biggest ears, the most curious personality, the powerful nose.

How fast can 15 years go by? If I were to list all the things she and I have been through, places we’ve visited, stories we made together, this blog would go on for weeks and weeks. We became regulars at the Nashville dog parks. I learned she wasn’t a fan of other dogs but a friendly guy there offered her a bite of a banana, so I learned she liked bananas.

About a month after I adopted her, I knew I needed a fence. She was still small enough that I could catch her but there was a sense that she’d be chasing rabbits for the rest of her life and the time was coming where I wouldn’t be fast enough to keep up with her agility and her desire to run.

Over the years, Piper and I (and Asia, too) became best buds. In fact, I can’t imagine my time in Nashville without her, although I had a previous life where I lived in a suspicious apartment complex a few miles from downtown Nashville and a whole circle of friends I haven’t spoken to in ages. Pre-Piper. And now I’m starting a new life post-Piper. Hard to believe it, to be honest. Last week I had to say goodbye, hugging her one last time.

If you’re just finding my blog, I’m in the midst of writing 15 posts– one for every blessed year of Piper’s life. Check on previous posts below and check back often as I reminisce about my best beagle friend, Piper.

Piper – The Heat Is On

Piper – You Make Me Wanna Roll My Windows Down and Cruise

Piper – The Beginning of An Era

-Out of the Wilderness

Piper Part 3 – The Heat Is On

Snow. Sun. Cold. Hot. Seasons came and went but I learned one thing pretty quickly. Piper did not like being cold. This became evident the first winter we were together and every winter after that. You see, we had this little space heater and Piper and I both were pretty obsessed with it. Many a’night we’d huddle by the heater to watch TV, read, or just stay warm.

She was my warm weather dog and I loved her for that because I’m a warm weather person, too. It might be that I was born in Key West and Florida weather is in my blood, I don’t know. But she was born in Tennessee so it would make sense if she liked all the seasons. She certainly had plenty of snow days in Tennessee and visiting family in Ohio.

They say dogs look like their owners but in this case, Piper acted like her owner. Give us all the hot days, you can keep your winters. There were times I held her in my arms, belly up, with the sun warming her whole body and she’d tilt her head back, close her eyes and I think she was as happy as she could be.

I tried to do that for her, give her a happy life. I wasn’t always successful but she knew I loved her with my whole heart. And now that she’s gone, all I can cling to is warm (or hot since we both prefer that temperature) memories of her in my heart. Piper, always my first dog.

-Out of the Wilderness

Piper Part 2 – You Make Me Wanna Roll My Windows Down and Cruise

Hi there! Welcome to Out of the Wilderness. I’m posting 15 tributes to my best beagle who passed away last week. She was lovable. She was sneaky. She was Piper.

Piper 🙂

At 15 years old, she had lived her best life whether it was getting a secret extra treat or wandering off the moment I turned my head for a millisecond. “Where’d Piper go?” is a question I asked a lot, usually followed up with, “Oh, good Lord, she’s gone again!” and a search party spreading out to track her down. She travelled by foot (paw?) a lot, going here, going there, going everywhere.

We travelled by car a lot, too, and that’s where things could get a little dicey. I’m talking about motion sickness! Going from Tennessee to Florida and back to Tennessee again, she and I had to figure out how to make it work and there were a few stories along the way. The blanket I had to toss into a dumpster somewhere in Alabama. Piper being so small she could crawl under the driver seat, or her having an upset stomach, tossing her breakfast, but eating it again before I could pull off the interstate. Eventually, though, we got into a good routine. Meaning… I mostly just fed her really early or not anytime close to when we were about to go on a long drive. But she had her ways of coping with it, too. If you ever rode with us, you probably noticed that she sat facing backwards. She literally faced the back seat. She was a smart little thing! One thing I learned is that fresh wind always seemed to help her not feel uneasy on the car rides so as often as I could, I’d roll the windows down and cruise. She loved to take in all the new scents.

I’m going to miss those whiskers and those big ears flopping in the wind. Gosh, I never would have thought “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line would make me nostalgic but here I am listening to a song about a Chevy with a lift kit and thinking about the great times I had with my car-sick beagle. My Chevy did look a lot better with her up in it. Funny how the most random song can still connect back to Piper.

-Out of the Wilderness