Honoring Biscuit: My Shadow

“In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn’t merely try to train him to be semi-human.  The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog.” ~Edward Hoagland

Today marks nine months since our precious Biscuit passed away.  It feels like I have not seen him in forever, and it feels much longer than nine months since Biscuit passed away.  One of the things that I loved about Biscuit was that he was literally my shadow and he was extremely loyal.  He followed me everywhere, including the bathroom!  While I showered or took a bath, he poked his head inside and, often times, sat right outside the bathroom waiting for me to go for his morning walk.  Biscuit always sat contentedly next to me while I worked at the computer for hours.  I tried not to get up too much in order to not disrupt his sleep as slept next to me on his Orvis bed.  No matter where I went, he followed.  Biscuit was always right there.  I miss him being right there beside me.

Biscuit just loved being with us; and we loved being with him.  It was rare that we left him at home as we tried to include him in almost every facet of our lives.  Biscuit gave us so much love.  I never understood the human-animal relationship until I met our precious Biscuit.  He opened our heart and eyes to so many experiences that we would not have experienced otherwise.  He will always be our first fur baby.  Sometimes, I can close my eyes and see him so vividly.  In the final months, I tried my best to imprint images in my mind so I could try to remember the little, quiet moments: the way he felt sitting on my lap in the car; the way his sheltie furs looked while blowing in the wind while on a walk; the way he smelled when I gave him a hug and kiss; the way he astutely looked at us when he persistently gave us the paw requesting a treat; the excitement in his clear brown eyes when we took him in his Hound About; and the way he looked while he slept so peacefully beside me on his Orvis bed.  I am thankful for Biscuit.  I am grateful for the myriad of photo albums preserving our memories forever.  Every time I see an orange sky or a rainbow, I think of our precious Biscuit.