Nov 1991-Oct 1997 Once upon a time there was a little fawn colored Pug dog who we re-named Dillen He came into our lives in February 1992, at 15 months of age. He was named Toto and before that, Scoogie so he answered to anything! This was thought to be possibly the last dog I would own. The dog who's life might well linger well past my death given the life span of these little wonderful dog/children. When I first saw him, he was bounding into the room giving no heed to the large number of cats who scurried to safety from his youthful exhurbance! He trotted right up to me and looked at me directly into my eyes with his huge black ones. His tail did the slow waggle we grew to love! He made me laugh He was certainly no show dog..His tongue hung from his mouth a bit and his lower jaw was mis- aligned! His tail has but one loosely curled twist to it! Dillen had not a lot of overt physical beauty but an inner beauty which was immediately evident to me! On the way home Dillen put his paws on the dashboard and tried to grab the windshield wipers as they cleared the cold winter rain from view. As he was already there he noticed a car going the other direction, on the two lane road, followed it with his head, then dashed to the backseat to give chase! He made me laugh! When we got hope and he got out of the car, he marked each tire as his, by thrusting his leg so high in the air he looked as though he would flip onto his back. He made me laugh! Then he made his entrance into the den to meet the source of support for the rest of his lifetime, he jumped onto David's lap. This was to be his favorite place! David looked stunned at this little fella, yet to recognize his hidden beauty! This scene made me laugh! The first night he was *home*, his new master (oh yeah who owned who here?) felt badly about Dillen sleeping in his new crate in the utility room, all alone! David asked just why there had always been a rule about a dog sleeping with his people? I could only lamely answer with a weak "tradition (?)"! So as Dillen romped about happily on our king sized bed playfully biting at our toes, I made my only absolute demand! No dog under the covers..OK? David agreed! When I awoke, there was Dillen's warm body cuddling close to me UNDER the covers with his head on the pillow beside me! He made me laugh! Time happily passed and since we love to travel I found my heart being wrenched every time we had to board our Dillen at a KENNEL! I would call often to see if he was adjusting to sleeping in his crate! I missed him so! The welcome home was always a happy one! Dillen would do his 360 circles and his pug scoot around and around us, laughing his happiness at our reunion! He reciprocated our kisses by slurping his own on our appreciative faces, and giving up a few snorts of "pug dew"! This made me laugh! I have heard it said that pugs are like potato chips...You can't have just one! It is true, it is true! We added the second pug to our family! A young 6 month old girl pug named Rosie! They loved each other, even though Rosie worried Dillen non stop with her youthful exuberance! They would do their pug dashes around that ever was handy and collapse in happy exhaustion panting and eyeing each other with warm suspicion! There was plenty of room on the king sized bed for all of us! They made us laugh! Watching TV in the evenings they would sleep in the chairs with us. Waking only to shift position and make eye contact to make sure they knew how much they loved us! It was fine with them when we moved to a new home as their home was determined by us not by geographical location! Rosie gave birth to a litter of seven puppies with whom Dillen willingly assumed the role of *Step Pug*. He was along side Rosie teaching them the boundaries of our fenced yard and the fine art of leg lifting! As he would with Rosie's second and last litter of three two years later! He was their first and most devoted play mate...He made us laugh! Dillen's health while never good was always manageable by the good care received at the hands of his capable veterinarian friends.! He had a happy and relatively happy summer the summer of 1997, but his body had built up a tolerance to his medications and they no longer worked for his relief! As the cold and damp fall sneaked in his pain returned with a vengeance! He would only watch the other dogs play..He would look at us as if to ask us why he hurt! Could we PLEASE make it go away?...I could not bear to watch this dog I loved so much suffer so badly! We knew the day was at hand, the day we prayed would never come! His best friend Judy who he really loved, had said if we brought him to her she would take him in for us. She would stay with him through it all! I could not do it and neither could his beloved David! He had been excited when I said "Do you want to go see Judy?" I drove him the back way, a way where there would be cars he could chase as he loved to do...from the dash board to the back of the van...Just as he had the first day he entered out lives! Only once could he raise himself to look through the windshield...He watched a car pass us, and he looked, but he could not chase it! It just hurt too much! What he did was to put his front feet on my knee and look at me with his big chocolate drop eyes and wag his loosely curled tail just a little.. The tears were choking me in the back of my throat..Judy had wet eyes too as she said"we don't HAVE to do this you know"? But we knew we did have to do it, for Dillen. I kissed him goodbye with tears coursing down my cheeks as I handed him through the window to my friend! Judy called with tears in her voice, a couple of hours later to tell me Dillen was gone! She brought his body to her place to bury him..We are going to get a dogwood tree for him come spring! Rosie sat leaned against the white picked fence in the yard..not sleeping and only glancing at me when I called her to come in the house. The neighborhood doggie noises which usually sent her into a frenzy of reciprocation caused her only to move her ears and glance it their direction! She sat there 2 hours before I went to her and carried her into the house..Rosie was grieving too! Dillen had made us laugh and now he made us cry!