RIP Sweet Roxy Puppy

I haven’t really had a chance to post about this seeing how busy my week has been and how I haven’t had a chance to post the video below (which I definitely wanted to include in this post) until today.

Sadly, last Saturday my sweet Yorkshire terrier puppy, Roxy passed away. I know that some people might not understand why this is such a big deal, but I absolutely LOVED (like was TOTALLY OBSESSED) my dog (well, it was technically my sister’s dog, but of course it became the family dog) and she had been there for SO many years of my life through SO many major transitions.

Roxy was a really sweet little puppy. My sister had wanted a puppy for YEARS and always begged my mom and dad to get one for her. My mom never had a dog growing up and she wasn’t always so keen on the idea. Eventually they broke down and my sister’s begging paid off.

I remember the evening that my mom took me to see the puppy that she had found from a local breeder – a nice lady who was absolutely OBSESSED with her Yorkshire Terriers. We decided to go with a Yorkie for a couple of reasons…it was the only kind of dog that we had ever really been around (my Aunt always had Yorkies), they stayed very small, and they weren’t shedding dogs. We knew that they could sometimes be a bit yippy, but I know that my parents didn’t want some big dog running around in the house or tearing up our yard.

The evening that my mom took me to “preview” the puppy (my mom and dad wanted to keep it as a surprise for my sister) I remember the lady handing me little Roxy – she was so, so tiny and SO adorable. She shook as I held her; she was probably only 2 pounds, 3 at the most. Her little face and her itty-bitty nose were just TOO sweet. Her coloring was caramel and black which made her even cuter to me and her fur was so soft and silky.

I had eventually given up on the idea of a dog because I figured my parents would never break down and actually buy one, but when I looked into those sad little puppy eyes and held her for that first time I was totally enamored with that little dog and over the moon excited about having a “new family member.”

I wasn’t there the afternoon when my little sister found out that we were getting to take that adorable Yorkie home, but I know that my mom took her out of school in the middle of the day and told her that she had a dentist appointment or some type of doctors appointment. She proceeded to drive her straight to the breeder’s house and told her in the car that they were going to pick up “her puppy.” I’m pretty sure the story continues with my little sister bursting into tears of happiness over the fact that she was finally going to get the dog that she had always begged for.

When we first brought Roxy home (my sister named her) we would set her down on the hardwood floor and she could barely walk because her little paws would slip (it was INCREDIBLY cute). At night when we would put her in her crate (we tried to train her to sleep on her own when she was a baby) we could all hear her little squeaks of sadness (I’m sure she was missing her mom and brothers and sisters), but of course they always sounded more like “quacks” then barks – she was just SO tiny. Turns out I started letting Roxy sleep at the end of my bed (even though my parents hated the idea) each night. I would always say “time for sleep!” and she would run to me or towards the stairs in my old house. Eventually she got a little too big for sleeping at the end of my bed and actually liked sleeping downstairs better, but I’ll always remember seeing her snoozing at the end of my bed on top of my quilt.

When we would come home from school each day the first thing we wanted to do was play with our new, sweet puppy. Just as puppies do, Roxy slept all the time at first. I remember I would lay down on the couch and set her on my chest (she was only a teeny-tiny 2-3 pounds) and she would fall asleep like that in minutes – seriously melts my heart just thinking about it.

Roxy wasn’t always the most behaved dog. Since we didn’t have any real experience with dogs we weren’t really sure how to train her to be a perfectly sweet dog all of the time…it also didn’t help that I was the bad one who liked to feed her scraps of delicious food from the table (which only made her begging during dinner WORSE) and who liked to laugh or pet her and console her when she’d have an accident in the house. She would also go a little nuts (OK, a LOT NUTS) when anyone picked up their car keys or headed for the door and don’t even get me started on when she would hear the doorbell ring – all madness would ensue. Of course sometimes we’d get frustrated with the way that she’d act, but to be honest….it was mostly our fault! Oops! :)

Roxy encountered a couple of big life changing moments herself. When she was still very little my sister was outside shooting basketball and of course Roxy was just wandering around on the driveway. Unfortunately the basketball must have just bounced off the rim in the perfect position because it zonked Roxy right in the head. I wasn’t here for this moment, but apparently our little puppy walked a little like she had too much to drink for the next couple of hours. My sister ran in the house devastated proclaiming that she had “killed Roxy,” but of course she “bounced” back in no time! :)

Roxy also enjoyed a nice big Peanut Butter Cup feast one afternoon. I remember it was during Valentine’s Day when I was in high school and at school I had gotten a big bag of the individually wrapped, but still full size Peanut Butter Cups. I left them on the couch in a bag (sealed of course), but little mischievous Roxy found her way into the sealed bag and somehow managed to “unwrap” the Reese’s Cups proceeding to eat the ENTIRE BAG. I so clearly remember coming home from school that day (I was in a GREAT mood), swinging open the front door and gliding into the living room only to find my mom and sister sitting with Roxy on her lap petting her…with TERRIBLE looks on their faces. Let’s just say they weren’t too happy with the fact that I left those chocolates on the couch. We all think that Roxy got lucky…good thing there is SO MUCH peanut butter in those candies! Eeek!

To say that I am sad about Roxy passing away is really an understatement. I loved that dog with all of my heart and even when she was being snippy or didn’t feel like playing I still thought she was the most adorable and sweet thing ever. Roxy was always there to comfort me when I was sad and she would always run to the door as fast as she could, tail wagging to greet me when I came home. Since moving out of my parents house I have always been particular excited about coming home and being greeted by her sweet, excited attitude -- I will certainly miss that the most.

Roxy had heart failure and the options for keeping her alive were very slim. I guess I am glad that I wasn’t there when my parents had to put her to sleep, but I am sad that I didn’t give her one last hug before leaving at Christmastime. At least I have lots of photos and memories of my sweet puppy…including this video of me and her “doing her tricks” (and yes, sometimes she would jump ahead to a different trick…because we really always did the same sequence of tricks….and she would just get SO overly excited about the treat!). I’m proud to say though that I taught her everything she knew…the good and the bad. :)

Untitled from Preppy Pink on Vimeo.

I’ll miss you sweet, little puppy!