This March my firstborn son, my one true offspring, Ficus the Pomhuahua turns 10, so this is a few weeks early, but I love to talk about my dog. A decade of the Cus! A decade of cuddles and shakes and walks and everything in between. A decade I wouldn’t be able to imagine without him.
He’s from Los Angeles and now he is here with me, made possible by his biggest fan! He has gone wherever (about 95% of the time) I go for a third of my life, and my entire adult life at that.
He’s very much a chihuahua in personality: he’s territorial of me, he's a little shaky (all his shakes mean different things), he has lots to say and a matching attitude, and is of course stubborn as hell. He also has the curliest pomeranian tail, and again, quite an attitude - he’s got a big personality for a small dog.
Let me tell you the story of how I got him: I wanted to go to the farmer’s market, but on the way I saw an animal shelter and thought I’d stop in just to look. Everyone who’s ever “just looked” at anything knows I wasn’t just going to look, not really.
As soon as I sat down, a tiny blonde dog jumped into my lap and wouldn’t leave and my heart was won, I had to have him. I sat with him for an hour before I finally told one of the ladies there that I would take him - and also came to grips that I’d have to call my husband to let him know I obtained a puppy.
Let me tell you he’s a mutt. He’s definitely got some terrier in him, he’s a chihuahua-pomeranian mix primarily, but he is no sort of purebred. I tell you this only to highlight how surprised we were when he was diagnosed with diabetes at seven and a few months later, Cushing’s disease.
He’s still ruling the roost though, taking his insulin like a champion every morning and night, taking pills to keep him from going blind, taking pills for his liver. But he’s still very active, incredibly protective of his house (perceived, that is - he’ll also let anyone know my parents’ house is his territory as well) and he loves to play with our neighbor’s dog.
He plays with our cats, with my parents’ dogs. He loves a good walk around the neighborhood to get the good sniffing done; I like taking him even if it takes a lot for me to get going.
Here’s hoping for many more happy and healthy years with my small one, the only Ficus Bean!