Good Girl, Brandi

Pets have always been a part of my life.  My earliest memories involve one litter of kittens or another, and bird dogs that I wasn't really allowed to play with, but loved all the same.  When my dad stopped using bird dogs, we still had dogs, but for no other reason than because we could.  Most of our animals were either born on our farm or brought there intentionally, but our farm has also been home to several strays.  

Brandi came to us sometime during my sophomore or junior year, and we put her age at around two or three.  It was obvious from the first day we met her that she had been abused, and even more obvious it had been at the hands of a man.  It took several years before she allowed my dad to pet her, and several more before she trusted him with any kind of object in his hand.  Despite this, she had a sweet disposition and a playful attitude.  She teased and tormented our other dog, Rufis, and would follow him anywhere.  When he died four years ago, we could tell she was a little lonely, but my sister and I were gone and my parents weren't looking to get another dog.

That didn't stop Grover from showing up, however.  Much like Brandi, we'll never know if he was dumped at the farm or found his way there on his own, but when my parents couldn't find his owners he became family.  In the last few years, Brandi has gone deaf, blind in one eye, and lost a lot of her puppy-ness.  When Grover arrived, he harried her much like she did Rufis, but she seemed to enjoy the company nonetheless.  I think she also enjoyed the extra warmth that had been missing since Rufis left. In fact, she enjoyed having the company so much that when Grover first arrived she greeted him warmly and led him right to her food.  It took her almost fifteen minutes to get him to follow her to the barn where the food and her sleeping spot were, but she was determined.  I think that even if Grover hadn't liked our farm, she would have found a way to coax him into staying.  They shared her favorite sitting spot in the chair on the front porch, and slept together each night in the barn.

At the approximate age of 12, Brandi passed away on March 15th during the night.  Grover stayed by her side in the barn the whole night.  His devotion to his new friend went past this simple kindness however.  The barn is almost fifty feet from our back door, but he dragged her there so my parents would find her immediately.  I think my mom put it best when she said that Grover must have been sent to us in what turned out to be Brandi's last three months.

I will miss this sweet girl, and I'm so happy that we were able to give her a better life than she had before us.  I know that she and Rufis are together again, chasing each other around and enjoying a warm patch of grass in the sunlight.