Because of Covid everyone was buying small dogs. Being home allowed them to care for puppies and with nothing left to do for entertainment everyone was walking dogs.
Gilbert my former cockapoo and I saw all the new dogs join the dog walks and paths before he died of his heart disease. He died in his sleep and left me the message that he was at Rainbow Bridge in heaven,
« I’m running for miles through golden fields. I have endless energy. I can see blue sky for miles. Your dad is throwing the yellow ball for me to fetch. »
My life with Gilbert was so full and he was such a great companion. I thought to wait to buy another dog but with Covid and working from home I too had the time for a puppy. The future was so uncertain. Having a puppy and raising one is such major commitment.
I’d had to find opportunities in my life and schedule for the three dogs I’ve had as an adult. Normally I have a cat too but the cats had died of old age in the previous year and not been replaced yet. Frankly I was lonely. My home and heart were empty without Gilbert. A month after he passed I began looking for another cockapoo and was quite shocked that breeders were telling me their litters were spoken for till next spring or summer. Laura told me her friend Drew had been unable to find a golden retriever for six months since their beloved Bertie had died early this year. Her sister had also lost her ducktoller and had spent months trying to find another. Thankfully Martha, when I called her, told me she had two boys left.
Her ad was from Chilliwack and from southern Alberta so I worried it was a scam. Still I money transferred the down payment and actually enjoyed the interaction with her. I looked her up on Facebook too and explored the Van Decker records on the family in southern Alberta. I did some due diligence but mostly trusted in the Lord. I prayed a lot. . I’d felt guided to my previous dogs and cats, a spiritual connection. The same occurred here.
I was so excited with anticipation. Laura was too. She’d been Gilbert’s mommy and was about to have another fur baby come into my life. She was crossing her fingers and praying. She’s a mother and grandmother and has had her share of fur babies over the years. Gilbert loved her.
The day came. Martha called to say she’d be in Chilliwack on Nov. 19 and we could meet at Tim Horton’s on Young Road in the afternoo. I was overjoyed.
With Covid and lock down’s and isolation and the devastation the disease and response has had on the mentally ill, work, virtual on video and phone ,has been so stressful and disheartening. I’d become a bit mad realizing Gilbert had been a major reason to live. I knew that everyone else had someone, even Laura who is closest to me, and my family, but Gilbert had truly needed me and loved me as only a dog can love. I loved to have the reason and purpose in my life again so I could stand in face of the daily despair I heard and offer hope. I’ve always been a provider and protector and taken joy in it. As funny as it seems, I’d felt this role was being eroded by the new consumer culture, identity politics, anti Christian, anti male, anti family anti tradition government policies. Except with my dog. With Gilbert I felt needed me, as his provider and protector. Especially blind when he became blind and his heart disease slowed him down. We’d hunted together for years and been best buddies. He had my back and I had hist. This was a symbiotic relationships.
Dogs or humans, no one is sure which, became domesticated more than 15000 years ago. There is a grave with a woman and her puppy dating from 15000 years ago but it’s expected dogs and humans lived and worked together for thousands of years before that. Gilbert alerted me to danger and despite his diminutive size his heart and courage were huge. He was afraid in many situations I got us into but he was never going to leave my side.
My cousin Wayne, a logger, trucker, breeder of apaloosa ponies, builder of log houses, had visitted with his cockapoo decades again. That was the first cockapoo I’d seen. I always admired Wayne and his judgement so Gilbert had come into my life. Now my retired academic sister in law Adell and my psychologist nephew Alan have Eva, the first Hay family female cockapoo. Graeme my other nephew the engineer , nuclear physicist, cinematographer and astronomer has Pepper another female cockapoo. When my brother was alive and I visitted them at Hay Bay it was such a joy to see the three cockapoos running together in front of the house. Walks with three dogs was such an adventure.
Martha arrived right on time at Tim Horton’s on Young Road. Her handsome clean cut smart looking man was driving. She, a very beautiful young lady, had this adorable little black and white dog sitting bolt upright on her lap. That was my first sighting of this little fur baby. Martha was delightful. She handed me the little guy with food and papers and took the money I’d brought. I was overjoyed because frankly until I saw her warm and open face I’d feared disappointment. No more. I took the little ball of squirmy into my hands and hugged him to my chest. He looked up at me with his beautiful brown eyes then licked my chin with his little red tongue. I loved that. I put him on the seat in the truck and climbed in as Martha and her beau drove away.
I believe Martha has family in Chilliwack so was able to bring the dog from southern Alberta. She’d told me she would call me if the weather or Covid restrictions made the journey difficult. All went well.
Now I sat in the truck with this bundle of black and white silky haired wonderfulness on my lap. My old and scarred heart opened with joy, tears coming to my eyes as I looked with love on God’s creation. All the joy I had known with Gilbert and the dogs before flooded through me as I looked at this tiny new roommate putting all his trust in me and hoping for the best.
It was a bit of a problem trying to convince him that for me to drive he had to be in the kennel. He screamed so loudly at that that I was distracted from driving so immediately pulled over and opened the gate. First round to the cockapoo. I was being trained. He cuddled down at my side on the seat his wet little black nose against my thigh. I had hoped to visit friends myself in Chilliwack but it was all I could do to get him home. I stopped at the rest stop and let him run about on the lawn with the leaves. He peed and then brought me a leaf he caught. He was just too adorable.
I’d talked about calling him Chinook because he was a warm wind into my life. But when I called him that it didn’t seem to fit. I thought of my Irish mother and wondered what dog was in Gaelic. I’d begun studying Gaelic again this year. So home with this bundle of joy on the couch beside me I looked up Gaelic for dog. Madra is a big dog like a mastiff. Madigan is west Ireland Gaelic for ‘little dog’, historically used as a boy’s name and today used by boys and girls. I loved the name and felt my mother approved. Madigan looked up when I called him that, giving me that look that said, ‘it took you a while’. I asked Laura and she loved it right off. Laura and I had been to Galway together and been enchanted with that musical mystical place vowing to return. So Madigan it was.
Madigan Hay is officially part of the Hay family. I let Adell and the nephews know. They’d have to tell the girl cockapoos. Laura was already planning to come the next day. I was about to spend a night up with a new puppy, worried about what he would chew, where he would pee and poop, whether he would live. I feared it would be like a night on call at the hospital back when I delivered babies and sat up nights at a times, watching over babies with meningitis, heart disease, fever and whopping cough.
As it was he actually slept 2 hours at a time then 4 hours in the wee hours. In the morning I woke to the light. It hadn’t been like a night on call. Rather I felt like I’d had a night at sea solo sailing in the ocean. I’d had to be on watch. I checked his breathing several times through the night. I worried about everything that could go wrong just as I did at sea. But all was well.
The new room mate has too modes. « Nasgar puppy » running all around at high speed, and then Nap Puppy, out like a light. I caught him about to piddle on the blanket and put him on the pee pad. It was the only lesson he needed being lifted piddling. It shocked him this being lifted up mid stream. He did’t want that to happen again so already is peeing and pooping on the pads. He’s just so smart. He loves to go for walks running full speed ahead on his little puppy legs his belly in all the puddles then lagging behind and getting tangled in the big leash. He is so interested in everything, exploring under trees , looking and sniffing at anything new ,stopping at any sounds. It’s a wonder to watch him and see what he sees.
Madigan Hay. Thank you Lord for bringing this wonderful baby into my life. He’s already accepted Laura and loves having his belly tickled. Together we are now a pack and he’s pretty happy with the new digs. My new room mate is a character. He has so much personality for someone so little. I love him. Madigan Hay.
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