TulsaPets Magazine May 2023

May / June 2023 • TulsaPets 29 der our kitchen sink doing a little work on the plumbing. Four-month-old Howie had dutifully planted himself on Jim’s chest to “help” with the repairs as only a puppy can. And today, here was Tag repeating the same silly stunt. We might have laughed it off as a random coincidence, but we both knew there was nothing random about it. Canine Magic To understand what I can only describe as a feat of canine magic, we have to turn the calendar back to January of 2022. My heart-and-soul dog, Howie, was on course to see his sixteenth birthday. Although he had always been a healthy dog, his advanced years were finally catching up with him. I knew we were facing his final birthday celebration. I think he knew it too. Tag was part of a litter of puppies we had been fostering for our rescue, the Dalma- tian Assistance League. Our little spotted charges were now old enough to start head- ing off to permanent homes, but Tag, at the height of puppy cuteness and energy, had somehow yet to find a new family. As with all our foster dogs, Tag was treated as part of our family. He was free to roam the house and yard, free to play with our other dogs, free to avoid our grumpier dogs. Howie generally fell in that latter category. Well, grumpy isn’t a fair adjective. Howie just never had any use or affection for puppies. He was a dignified, stoic dog who was more devoted to his humans than to the frivolity of playing with the other dogs. He was the boss dog of the canine clan, the supervisor instead of a participant. But that all changed with Tag. As Tag gained freedom from his puppy playpen, he seemed to consistently gravitate to Howie. Howie, historically the one to meet puppy attention with a toothy warning, chose to tol- erate attention from this spotted youngster. Often, Jim and I would find Tag snug- gled against Howie for a nap. Using Howie as his personal jungle gym as he climbed onto the senior dog’s back, tumbled under his neck, or pounced on his tail. Tag would use the harness Howie wore for mobility as- sistance as his personal chew toy. He would invite himself to share Howie’s special bed. He would even bring toys to share with Howie. We watched their relationship blossom as the puppy continued to charm the gruff old man. Autumn and spring came together to form an unlikely but undeniable bond. Just the Beginning Time marched along. On April 5, 2022, we happily celebrated Howie’s sixteenth birth- day. On May 20, 2022, we lovingly eased Howie out of the body that was no longer cooperating. You might think this is where the story of Howie and Tag ends. You would be wrong. Delightfully, magically wrong. Immediately following Howie’s passing, Tag claimed the old dog’s position on the bed, sleeping snuggled against my legs and feet. Now you might think he was just taking over a vacated, comfy position, but Howie never had slept on the bed with me during Tag’s little lifetime. With his declining mobility, I had worried that Howie might fall off the bed during the night. Months earlier, I had helped him transition from his lifelong place alongside me to a new sleeping spot on a soft cushion beside the bed. Tag had never slept at my feet while Howie was still alive, preferring instead to sprawl out across the middle of the bed. And then came the day I walked into our dog room to find that Tag had hopped on top of the bin where I store our dog food. Seeing him standing there, looking at me very expectantly, stopped me in my tracks. This was the place where Howie had decid- ed, of his own accord, to eat all his meals for most of his life until the two-foot leap became too high for old joints to manage. This tradition was uniquely Howie’s and had also come to a halt well before Tag was even born. Tag had seen no demonstration; he had had no teacher. Yet there he stood. Howie’s spot was now shared by Tag. The Howie-isms that Tag seemed to have somehow inherited continued. I would find him waiting for me, curled on the bath mat outside of the shower, just as Howie had. I would pull into our long driveway to see a familiar spotted face watching me from the backyard. It had always been a comfort to see Howie there to welcome me, instinctively knowing when I would pull through the gate. Now it was Tag turning to race through the dog door to be the first to greet me at the front door. And then Tag stood atop Jim as he did repairs beneath the kitchen sink, just as Howie had so many years before. A Time To Learn Maybe it can all be explained away as coincidence. After all, the two dogs are very different in every other way. Howie was reserved and even in puppyhood, a bit of a serious soul. He was my protector, dignified and steady, only revealing his soft side to a select few humans. Tag, on the other hand, has a huge per- sonality. He is silly, playful, and mischie- vous. He’s a bit of a handful, but in a de- lightfully innocent manner. And he has a sense of humor that keeps us laughing and guessing what his next antic will bring. What I love to believe about Tag’s knack for knowing Howie-isms is that during their time together, during all of those Tag (left) and Howie become a canine team.