In memory of

Sasha P. Dog

Sasha

Sasha was the kindest and calmest dog, always friendly to both other dogs and people.

P stands for Potato, because she is brown, round, and looks like a potato with a dollop of sour cream when laying down.

P also stands for Princess, because she was spoiled, and, in my mom's words, "she didn't have a dog's life, she had a good human life".

Sasha loved car rides, and would immediately lift her ears up if you said "car" in a conversation, and would jump up and run at you full speed if you said "car ride" from another room. She would sit in the back seat, stick her face out of the window, and drool over everything with excitement.

She somehow learned "sit", "speak", "gentle", and "paw" without much training, and would politely put her paw on you if she wanted attention.

Sasha did not bark for the first few months, but when she finally found the courage to do it, she would give polite soft barks while inside. Outside, however, when she saw squirrels, she would give a little whine, charging up her sonic blast, and then bark loud enough to deafen both the squirrels and us.

While walking at the park, she would pick up acorns, roll them around her mouth and then spit them out, and since we called acorns her "snacks". She did not understand ice cubes though - some dogs love them, but she just spat them out and stared at them in confusion.

Sasha was the chillest dog. One day, at the dog park, a small dog bit her on the face, and she didn't even pay any attention to it, she just kept sniffing around. Even when playing rough and giving her side slaps, she would never try to bite me.

Most toys did not survive contact with Sasha, and would be immediately torn and gutted, much to her satisfaction. The only kinds that lasted were tough nylon and rubberized bones. She would chew on a rubberized (bacon-flavored!) bone by holding it in her front paws, and crunching on it with her molars, or pulling chunks off it with her front teeth. Then she would get up, leaving the bone just standing there in the middle of the living room floor.

She loved playing tug-of-war, and, when excited, would growl if you waved hands around her.

She had a busy day schedule, which consisted of waking up, gulping two gallons of water, a walk, sometimes a car ride, dinner, meticulous annihilation of her toys, and about 5-7 naps between those activities. Her favorite way to nap was to nestle herself between us on the couch, head resting on one of our laps, and snore incredibly loudly and human-like. We joked that Sasha is really a human in dog form.

Sasha was sometimes a jealous dog, and would insert herself between you and any other animal, human, or device you are paying more attention to. When we were at the table, she would make the saddest puppy eyes, expecting you to give her some food (which she usually got).

Sometimes, after laying quietly on the floor, Sasha would "start up": flip on her back, then twist back-and-forth, snorting. She would also come over to you, lay down, and sigh dramatically. Or, after drinking water, she would sit down directly in front of you and burp right in your face.

Sasha was a sun dog, she would always lay in the sunny spot, no matter how small. Or, when out on the porch in the summer, she would lay directly in the blazing sun, panting, but super happy. Sometimes, when I would let her out in the morning, instead of coming back inside, she would just lay in the sun in the backyard or the driveway, enjoying herself.

Stories

Snacks

One day, we took Sasha to Hollstein trail, where there were thousands of grasshoppers in the hilly meadows and on the trail, and Sasha would try to catch them mid-jump and eat them.

Mud dog

One day, Ashley took Sasha on a walk in Beaver Creek Park, and they went off the trail onto a muddy riverbank. Ashley slipped and fell on her butt in the mud, and Sasha, instead of helping Ashley get up, just wagged her tail and licked Ashley's face.

Mail

We started noticing that Sasha bit through or chewed some of our paper mail. Which was odd, because she never bothered mail or any papers that were laying around. Then one day, I saw that when Sasha was on the porch, the mailman would put the letters in the mail slot and wiggle them, so Sasha would happily spring up and play with the mail by grabbing it.

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