From outside the box

Sugar and Kato were middle aged canines when their "human" parents got married and moved their two families into one household. It was Sugar who came into Kato's world, a large house on a hillside of oaks and trails that sloped down to Butte Creek. Kato, a large male Akito, was slow at first to accept Sugar, who was a smaller gentle female. The first day he did one of those non-biting loud vicious attacks that male dogs do to establish their dominance. But Sugar, being of the superior gender, wasn't phased. She probably had a plan (or I'm just demonstrating my own inability to understand women) because soon she had Kato showing her the ropes.

It didn't take long before the two became inseparable. With Butte Creek out their back door and acres of property to run on, they spent their days exploring and playing. Although they were best friends, Sugar let Kato know right from the start that her toys were off limits. She created a hiding spot for her toys inside a hallowed out tree on the property. Kato tried every now and then to get to them, but Sugar wouldn't allow it, it was the one rule she had with Kato.

It didn't too many years for time to start catching up with Sugar and Kato. Last July Kato, who was 13 at the time, suffered a stroke. His family found him on the floor, half conscious, with Sugar beside him, crying like a baby. They rushed him to the vet, but because of his age and the damage from the stroke, it was advised that Kato be put to sleep. The family brought him back home to bury him on the property.

Sugar knew what had happened and was still crying when they brought Kato home. They took him down the hill and buried him by the creek. The next morning Sugar was nowhere to be found. After walking the property and calling for her, they checked down by the creek and found her laying on the soft dirt where Kato had been buried the day before. She stayed there the rest of the day.

The next morning Sugar left the house early to go visit Kato, but she made a stop on the way. She retrieved one of her toys from the hallow where she had hid them from Kato and took it with her, where she gently dropped it on Kato's grave. She spent the rest of the day there and when she left that evening to go back to the house, she left the toy. This became a daily ritual and soon all of her toys were spread out on Kato's grave site. Sugar grieved this way for several weeks. By the end of the summer she wasn't going to the grave as often, but she never took her toys back home.

Recently Sugar got a new friend in her life. Cali is a sweet energetic female pup who was rescued from the shelter. Thanks to Cali, Sugar is running around again looking and acting much younger than her 14 years.
I just met Sugar and Cali last week when my company started painting their home, out along the Butte Creek. I was almost in tears as their "human" mother was telling me the story of Sugar grieving Kato and why she adopted Cali. I haven't made the trek down to the creek yet to see Kato's resting place, but since we will be working there for a week or two, I'm sure I will. The Mom tells me there's still a couple of balls lying on Kato's grave. The rest of the toys have been swept away by nature over the last several months.

This story reminds me of how human-like animals can be. They grieve, they feel emotions, and they can have long term memories. If we all understood animals better, if we were more aware of the connection we share with them, that life force we have in common, the force that lights all of us up, perhaps we would treat them better. Perhaps we would realize that they are not here only to serve man, but to share the earth with man. Perhaps we would take our responsibility to the environment more serious. And just maybe, in the not too distant future, we will live in a world where there are no rodeos, no circus animals, no zoos, no bullfights, no cock fights, no dog fights, no animal testing, and maybe even a lot less of them on our dinner plates. Maybe....but I'm not holding my breath.

OK, so I'm using Sugar's story here, in part, to promote my own agenda of animal rights, it's a writers prerogative. But getting back to Sugar....I find myself looking forward to going to the job everyday where I am met with a wagging tail and a furry little smile. No I'm not talking about Howard, my on the job supervisor, I'm talking about Sugar. She's a sweet old soul, and I'm serious, you can really see her smiling! I hope Sugar has many happy days left, running and playing in the summer sun with her new friend Cali, before she is laid to rest along side of Kato, down by the creek. If there's a doggy Heaven, and I know there is, Kato's probably waiting patiently for his friend. In time Kato, in time....right now Sugar's busy.... she has to find a new hallow to hide her new toys from that pesky Cali....

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