I tell this story a lot because I miss the hell out of her.

In 2007 I brought home a corgi. She still had floppy ears to go along with those stumpy little legs. She was being house trained, and the fastest place to take her was in the side yard.

One day, a canine buddy saw me and came jogging over. This fella was a pittie, about knee height to me. Big, brawny pooch. He was also as sweet as he was big.

My little Luna love did not know this. She catches sight of him gallumphing our way and almost jumped in front of me, between me and the ghostly white beast. She was barely taller than my ankle

Her hackles rise, and this puppy growl starts unzipping through the air.

She's a mouthful for him, if he was that sort of dog.

But she was going to take him on if need be. He, however, sat down, cocked his head and just looked back and forth between me and her.

I take a knee and get her redirected, then calmed down enough to introduce them. Didn't take long, since the big doofus did a play bow and snurfled her, and she switched immediately to fun mode.

So, we go in the back yard where she can be off leash, and they romp until she's exhausted enough to fall asleep between his paws. Took all of ten minutes. He gives her a bath while I'm petting both of them.

Eventually, she wakes up, and we go in, while the hephalump meanders home.

When my brother died and my mom was essentially paralyzed with the grief and depression, my English Bulldog would just go to wherever my mom was laying and lay her face on my moms face and just stay there to comfort her for however long it took.

When I was younger I went to a party at some random girl's house that my bro was trying to get with. A few of us there, we all got shit faced. Made food, drank a ton, music, the works.

Girl had a dog. Small thing, maybe some kind of pug mix? I don't know. Didn't have the really messed up airway but it was close.

I love dogs, I love animals in general. I usually will hang out with a dog at someone's house more than the people. This dog was super hesitant to hang out though, the girl said she was just really timid around men, always had been. That's ok. I tried to break the ice through the night but it never took, doggie was always hesitant of me. Very very unusual, animals generally take to me very quickly, but like the girl said, dog was just not ok with men.

I wake up on the couch and it's barely light. I don't wake up of my own accord, I wake up because this dog is slobbering on the side of my face as much as she can reach with me on the couch. Dog is whining, constantly licking me.

DrunkAF.jpg

Wtf dog are you for real

I try to roll over and pass back out, doggie does not let up. Jumps up on me, licking face, being super affectionate. Total 180 from the night before.

My heart warms up and I start to pet her, she's furiously licking my face. At this point my brain fog clears enough that I can tell it's not just the dog whining I hear, but a baby is crying from somewhere

Wtf there's a baby here?? I just spent all night partying in this house, there was no fucking baby, no mention of a baby, this girl that lived there was obviously ok with hooking up with my friend, he didn't say anything about a baby either, wtf.

Baby is crying from some random room. Dog keeps hopping off me and back on, licking my face

Alright dog let's go check on the baby

Dog leads me down the hallway to the baby's room, baby is crying in the crib, room smells like dirty diaper.

Dog has stopped whining, is with me wagging tail furiously

Alright doggie where's the diapers

I swear to God that dog showed me where the diapers were, the wipes, everything. Dog went and danced around everything I needed. I cleaned the baby up, changed her, held her for a little bit, and the dog was super calm and 100% cool with my pets now.

I left and never went back but I will always remember that little dog that didn't trust me at all the night before but took a chance on my the next day and would not let me stay passed out because the little girl was crying in the other room.

Super fucked up situation in general but that dog was the shit. Most responsible fucking living thing in the house had four legs and probably eats its own puke

I have three quick stories about the westie we had when I was a kid. For context, she was about 16 inches at the shoulders, so a large westy but hardly a large dog.

1. We were out walking when I was about 12 y/o. She always thought she was the biggest dog in the room. A black lab started barking in what I took to be a threatening way. He charged his buried invisible fence and just yipped as he went through it and his collar shocked him. He charged straight towards us, barking and growling. My little girl ran up under his chest, clamped down with her teeth, and held on, shaking her head like she'd caught a rodent. The lab freaked out, running in circles until he finally shook my dog off, then went barreling back into his yard.

2. The same westie acted like a cat lot of the time. Very independent and only wanted attention on her terms. When I had my wisdom teeth out and was doped up on pain killers, she just laid with me on the couch for a full day, very out of character for her.

3. She understood very well when she had done something that she shouldn't. When we'd get home, if she'd gotten into the trash or left us a "present" somewhere (after we left her home along too long), she would strike a very guilty pose and show us where she'd done the bad thing. One day we got home and she was telling us she'd done something wrong. She took me to the bathroom to show me but I couldn't find any evidence of what she'd done. She was upset that I couldn't find it but, eventually, we gave up and went to do something else. The following morning I discovered that she had managed to clamber into the bath tub and left her "present" in the tub. She was a very smart girl, figured out that the tub was the best place for that, and went through the effort of climbing in before doing her business. I brought her to the bathroom to see if she remembered. She started to whine and look guilty again so I told her she was a very good girl and did exactly the right thing. She rarely pooped in the house but, from then on, when she did, she would go do it in the bath tub.

These stories are about big black male cat and a white and tabby female.

We only had the girl a couple of months before the boy died. She had been mostly hiding out in the spare room; he wasn't hostile to her, she was just so nervous. However, when she heard me crying, she came into my bedroom and stayed with me. She still comforts me, and likes to act as a weighted blanket by lying on me while I sleep.

When the first baby was born, the boy, who hadn't shown hunting behaviours since he was much younger, somehow managed to find a mouse to leave as a tribute by the baby's cot. He was the only cat we had then. When the second one was born, we only had the girl cat. She also found a mouse and left it right next to the gift bag of baby stuff. Apart from that, I've never seen her hunt even a spider. I'm sure they would both see that as a kindness!

I'm gonna talk about how my dog died. You've been warned.

We had a dog growing up- a big ol' husky-sized dog with the face of a dalmatian. Anyway, I always say she died doing what she loved- eating chocolate. It was the only thing she was smart for. She'd get through closed doors, onto a little space we had above our upper kitchen cabinets, just anywhere. Probably once a year, at least. Anyway, diabetes took her eventually. One of the last things we did together was I carried her down to the creek by our house and we spend a few hours there. I didn't take her on enough walks (no one in my family should have been in charge of another animal), but I did that with/for/to her, at least. I don't think about Sierra enough, so thank you.

We have a Staffy/Cattle Dog mix named Bruno who loves to sit and protect us. He started out sitting under my kid's bassinet (contorting himself because it was an awkward height for him), then started sitting in their room facing the door while my wife was feeding her, and now will come into our room in the morning and sit facing the door until we get out of bed.

He is the sweetest dog in the world and is instantly friendly with everyone he meets, but I really enjoy his stoic defender act he puts on.

Our Pyrenees would get in my way if I was walking towards the lake when I was a baby, if I managed to get too close he would pick me up by the pants and bring me back home.

This is why all pets never die, but instead, ascend to godhood.