When I was three (or so), Ma and Dad bought a puppy from a breeder in the Prosperity, WV area. It was half Pekingese and half Poodle (a Pekapoo). Ma named her Precious Pup. And the name fit her personality. She was “my dog”. If I played, she played. If I napped, she napped. Even when the cat (Simon) came along, she was still my favorite (however, Simon insisted on laying on us while we napped).
When I was in 5th grade, Precious wondered too close to the neighbor’s yard. There, a German shepherd (not shepard, as spelled in the writing below) attacked her in a protective fit (she recently had pups). The shepherd basically slung her back and forth like an old rag doll, snapping Precious’ back. Any other parents would have put her down. In my raging fit of “not having that answer”, my Dad gave in and decided he could engineer something to help her. He welded together a stand and using binder clips to hold a dish towel in place, Precious would be placed in the contraption for a period of time a few times a day and “rehab’ed”. She regained the use of her front legs almost immediately. Ma would cut a whole in a baby diaper and put it on Precious. She was an interesting little beast, dragging herself along, defying odds, healing. She eventually regained use of her hind legs as well. She went on to have another six years in our lives. There is no part of my childhood that Precious was not part of.
She was a good dog. She outlasted two cats pre-Simon (Simon outlived her by a few years) and multiple strays I took in to “salvage” and find homes for. She was 15(ish) when I came home from college to say my last goodbye. She had glaucoma by then, was missing her front teeth and her quality of life had diminished.
Below is a play I wrote in her honor. I find it interesting that I received an A and not a single misspelled word was corrected. I remember drawing the stairs under my sketch of Precious because I had drawn her legs at different lengths and had no way of fixing it. It’s a riveting drama, a story of perseverance and determination. Jack London would have been proud… I bet you guys are glad my writing has improved and that auto-correct is now a useful tool! Enjoy – it is one of my first literary works.
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