Quincy

It's like losing a member of your family.

Today, our family dog, Quincy, was put to sleep.

She was one week short of turning 16 years old...seriously. We got her when I was 11 years old, because I was suddenly in charge of taking care of our little sister, Sarah, after school, since my brother was now in high school and getting home later than we were. I was scared to be alone in the house, and so my parents decided to get us a puppy, Quincy.

I remember Sarah & I dressing the dog up like she was a baby. We had doll's clothes we'd put on the dog, dance with her in the living room on her hind legs. Quincy let us do it all, without a growl or a snarl.

We also used to take her Cockapoo (Cockerspanial/Poodle) ears and put them in a scrunchie on top of her head. It was the early 90's, she pulled it off flawlessly ;)

My Dad trained her to "Put Sarah to bed". Sarah would come to the top of the stairs to get my Dad to come tuck her in, and the dog would chase her up the stairs and into the bedroom, where it was a race to see who would make it to the bed first - Sarah or Quincy.

I used to teach Quincy so many tricks. She could sit, lay down, stay-come-here, speak. I also taught her to sing - really. She would whine so softly, it sounded like singing. I also taught her to wave bye-bye. No, seriously, I did. I would pick her up like a baby, and say "Wave bye-bye!" and she would wave her paw out in front of her like she was seeing off the Queen.

Quincy protected us, loved us, played with us, was there when tears fell, met us after school, took walks with us, kept us in line, and was really just a party of our family. This dog's personality was stronger than some people I've met in my life.

Quincy-Dog, I love you, and I hope that you will watch over us from Doggy-Heaven, where I'm sure there are infinite slices of cheese, and lots of popcorn for you to eat.

As my tears fall for our loss of you, I will always remember how amazing of a dog you were.

I will miss you. xoxox