Monday, September 24, 2012

The Love of my Life: Sushi the Pomeranian


When I was 17 years old, I had already graduated highschool, started college, and I was poised to move out of the house. I had always been raised with dogs - big, happy, in love with life labradors - and the prospect of living away from any canines left a weary sort of sadness in my soul. I had owned my very own black lab since I was around 12 - Tidus - but there was no way I was going to move this 80lb beast with me to a tiny studio apartment after he had spent all of his life running wild on my family's farm.

What I REALLY wanted was a little dog. A little dog that was the size of a cat, but didn't make me sneeze and my throat close up the way cats did. But I have zero experience with little dogs - the only ones I had met had been yappy and annoying. So as I do with everything, I started researching. I started reading. I thought Pomeranians and Dachsunds were really cute - Pomeranians because I had seen them in Superman Returns, and Dachsunds just because Dachsunds are just adorable.

I looked into rescues, but as a 17 year old girl on a next to nothing budget there was no way I was going to be able to afford the medical bills all of these dogs needed. That pained me, but I also promised myself I would not buy from a pet shop or a breeder - it would have to be from a family who had bred their dog or nothing.

I started my search in earnest, calling every advertisement for Pomeranians in the newspaper and Thrifty Nickel. My mother was not 100% sold on the idea of her teenage daughter owning a puppy - she continued to insist that I wasn't responsible enough. But I was relentless in my search. I knew exactly what I wanted in my companion - after all, she was going to be with me for at least 15 years. Finally, after months of searching, I called a family that had bred their Pomeranian in order to teach their granddaughter about birth and life. They emailed me two photos - and I was immediately in love.

The photo that let me know she was the one for me <3


The next day, my mother and I piled in her car and drove from Idaho to Wyoming (right on the border) to pick up my new fluffy BFF. I wasn't 100% sure if I wanted the girl or the boy of the puppies, but when I opened up the front door, a tiny bolt of peach colored fuzz attacked my legs, trying to crawl up into my lap. The darker, chocolate colored boy puppy hung back and eyed me warily as I scooped up the girl and she attacked my face with her tiny cherry blossom tongue.

It was love at first sight between the two of us. I kept putting down this one pound ball of trembling fluff and she was trying to get back into my grasp as quickly as possible. She was so adorable I kept looking at her and giggling - it was an overwhelming response to what was essentially a real life anime mascot.

Soon enough, money had exchanged hands and the teensy bebe was mine. On the drive back, she stretched her miniscule body in between my thighs and went to sleep. I gazed down upon that creature and I felt a swell of love that I have never experienced before - I'm pretty sure she had awoken my maternal instinct.

The day she came home with me! Look at that widdle face!

My mother and I spent hours debating names - I was leaning towards the name Ella or Bella (thank goodness I didn't go with that, because Bella as a name is forever ruined for me by Twilight!). My mother looked over at the small little animal in my lap and said: "She's like a little piece of sushi! You could just eat her!"

And thus, Sushi was named. I brought her home, and the two of us have literally been inseparable since. At the time I was working as a Radio DJ at my local NPR station, and she came with me to work, quietly sleeping at my feet in the On Air booth. She came with me to class and slept in my book bag. She slept (and still sleeps!) curled up underneath my chin every night.





It's been six years today since this amazing little creature entered the world. I cannot even begin to express the love and adoration I have for my dog: she has helped me through some of the most difficult emotional times of my life. When I was all alone and grasping myself through unbearable emotional pain, Sushi was licking the tears away. No matter how miserable my day is, the minute I come home to her excited bouncing and face kisses everything is better. Even through the darkest of times in my life, I knew I was loved and wanted and needed by at least one creature - and for that I honestly owe this dog my life.

People can call me a crazy dog lady but I don't care. There is a place in my soul that would be greatly lacking if I didn't wake up with her fluff pressed to my cheek every morning. I'm getting a tattoo of her face on my foot as soon as I can afford it. I love you, Sushi: happy birthday!




Do you have an intense emotional connection with your pet? I'd love to hear about it!
 

39 comments:

  1. Thanks for commenting, glad you liked my photos!
    He is so cute! Unfortunately, I don't have a pet at the moment, but I'd love to have a kitten someday! Kisses from www.moiminnie.blogspot.com xx

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  2. awwwwww sushi is such a beautiful dog!!!!! I am in the process of looking for a small dog, still debating what breed I should get at the moment :)

    ang-closet365.blogspot.ca

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    Replies
    1. I'm definitely breed biased because of my tiny bb, but if you ever have questions feel free to contact me! I used to work at a dog kennel so I know a LOT about dogs from first hand experience.

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  3. Awww they are so cute. I am a sucker for dogs :)
    Thank you for the lovely comment on my blog :)
    Love your blog
    Would you like to follow each other?
    fashionandtherebel.blogspot.com

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  4. oh the baby photo and the one where she's all wet are super adorable! i feel the same way about my cat mr fluffy, i found him on a classifieds site and adopted him and it's the best decision i've ever made! pets are awesome!

    steph / absolutely-fuzzy.com

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  5. how cute!! I love bath time pics! look adorable!

    oliviamoone.blogspot.com

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  6. OMG - a wet Pomi? How cute!
    XOXO
    -Daisy Nguyen from PS BANANAS fashion blog:
    http://psbananas.com

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  7. cute fluffball! my dog is my life :)

    Hybid Hunter

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  8. The pics of her in the bath are the cutest things I have EVER SEEN. I think it's so amazing when people feel such deep connections with their dogs. My dog Pippin has been in the family since I was in 3rd grade, but he's almost 18 years old now and I'm scared he's reaching his end. :( I wish dogs had human life spans. ANYWAY, I love this post so much. <3 xx

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    Replies
    1. 18 years old?! HOLY CRAP!

      The worst part about dogs is that they don't live as long as people :-/

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  9. aaww i felt inlove with your pet, sooo beautifull!!!!

    -Anna
    annasmirror.blogspot.com

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  10. That is the cutest dog I've ever seen!!! Precious.
    http://shannonhearts.blogspot.com/

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  11. Such a cute story! Your dog is absolutely precious and it sounds like she picked you to be her owner. :) Our neighbors have a Pomeranian and her name is Bella (ironically). LOL. They are such cute dogs! <3

    toni

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  12. Are you going to set up a donation fund so people can help you with your tattoo? I would love to help with that

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  13. Aww so cute, she is so beautiful, she looks like she may be a stuffed animal. Yeah, I have a little pug dog and I love him, he is my best friend.

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  14. This is adorable. It's great when someone really connects with their pet. And the pictures where she's wet are so awesome.

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  15. I know EXACTLY how you feel. The moment I convinced my bf to go look at little Homer (he's a shelter pup), I knew he'd be ours. He's been the glue that holds me together some days, and the light at the end of dark tunnels. He makes everything better, and never ceases to make me laugh. I can't imagine my life without him! Like you, I always grew up with dogs - larger Golden Retrievers, then even LARGER chocolate labs, so I originally wasn't sold on the idea of a small dog. That said, as soon as I met our little Homer (a chihuahua/rat terrier mix that looks nothing like and acts nothing like a chihuahua), I fell in love. He's absolutely hilarious, and pain in the ass sometimes, but he makes our lives so much better. We moved to India a year ago, and even though it was more expensive to move him than both of us combined, we knew that there was no leaving him behind, and we don't regret it a bit. He's balanced out the insanity of India, and been our solace on days we didn't feel like we could face the outside world. Between his sheet-sharking (he likes to tunnel underneath the bedsheets) and his silly cuddling positions, he's a four-legged clown. Your little Sushi is too cute, I love the first picture- what a little fuzzball! :D

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  16. I have a warm, fuzzy puppy story, too. ^_^

    I was at work one day when a guy walked in holding a basset hound puppy. Knowing that my husband has wanted one forever, I jokingly told the guy to run before my husband, who was sitting in the cafe area on the other side of the store, saw the dog and took it from him. The guy told me that the sister of the puppy he was holding was for sale, and he'd love to show her to us. We talk to him for a bit, but since we didn't have our own place and I was pregnant at the time, we weren't able to get the dog.

    Several months later, we had our own place and our daughter was a couple months old. My husband comes home from his last day of school and he's all excited. His classmate has some basset puppies for sale really cheap since he's moving to Alaska from Idaho and he can't take the dogs with him. I have always had dogs, and since my husband was going to graduate from his college the next week, we decided it was time to get a doggy.

    We drive out to the middle of nowhere to look at the two puppies the classmate had; one girl and one boy. When we pull up, and his classmate comes out, I recognized him as the customer from the store almost a year before. As it turns out, the puppies he was showing us today were the babies of the dog he had tried to sell us then. We picked the girl, loaded her up in the car, and prepared to take her home with us. Before we drove off, we turned to ask the guy when she was born. May 27th at around 7pm, he told us. Our daughter was born at 7:42pm on May 27th. They're like twins. They play together all the time and are the best of friends. We couldn't have found a better puppy for our daughter. She's dumber than dumb, but as gentle as can be. She has been a lot of work, between being so stubborn and a very costly birth defect (she literally pooped her guts out due to her intestines telescoping), but we wouldn't trade her for anything. She's ever bit as much a part of our family as our daughter.

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  17. Awawawaw she is so cute and amazing!
    I deffo know what is the intense connection with a a pet. We have an iguana(a reptile might not sound so brainy, but he IS brainy!) and the 1st time I saw about 10cm tall him in a pet shop in Japan I knew I needed to pay about 25 euros and carry him home in a transparent plastic lunch box. He became instantly tame (well, he did bite once or twice.). Later on he migrated with us to Finland which was a hassle, as no airline liked an idea to fly one of Godzilla's offsprings. Now being 2,5 years old, 130 cm tall (will be fully grown at 5 y.o), he eats from our hand, constantly comes to sit on our lap and sometimes comes to the bed to sleep with us at nite.
    His name is DJ, coz he loves to listen to music (I posted a video of him in front of Youtube on my blog ;D)
    Anyways, if you wanna see him, there are lotsa pics of him in my blog.

    xxx Lara
    http://rockteraptor.blogspot.fi/

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  18. Good day to you my friend. I needed to give you a quick note to express my thanks. I've been studying your blog for a month or so and have picked up quite a lot of good info as well as enjoyed the way in which you've setup your blog. I am attempting to setup my own blog but I feel it is too general. I want to focus more on specific topics. Being all things to all folks isn't all that it’s cracked up to be. Many thanks.

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  19. Super Cute :D [Now Following]
    Bookishtimes.blogspot.co.uk

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  20. i sweaaarrr she is too cuteee <3 awhhh so nice of you for having a really lovely pet like her!

    lisshandratanata.blogspot.com

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  21. awww she's ADORABLE !!

    www.mymymode.com

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  22. oh i'm in love <3 this dog is so cute <3 just like mascot :)! i just followed you :) love your blog:)

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  23. Och so sweety :)

    I invite you to
    http://fashion-whoknow.blogspot.com/

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  24. yes, I am in LOVE with our furbaby. I dont know how some people arne't "pet people"

    http://coffeebeansandbobbypins.blogspot.com/

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  25. oh God.. she's so beautiful!
    it's a shame that i never had experience growing up with dogs because my parents didn't allow..though i really want to have a dog one day when i live in my very own house. i just have to.
    actually in my last post i mentioned about my friend's dog that i fell in love with.. her name is Cookie, she's a pomi too and so lovely..so mature. :)
    this is such a nice story.. you even made me really convinced to get a dog sooner or later! :)
    thanks for sharing.

    love
    agnes

    www.singledoorsecrets.blogspot.com

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  26. what an adorable puppy! and i love the name sushi, it is a great match.

    i have loved dogs all my life, begged for one as a child, but have never been a proud puppy mama... at least not yet! i definitely want to take the plunge soon.

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  27. She is so adorable!! I love my dog too! She makes cameos on all my blog entries!

    http://operationwearmycloset.blogspot.com/

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  28. Your dog is sooo cute! I love Pomeranian's, they're so fluffy and tiny, you just want to pick them up and cuddle them! I have been told that they are quite hard to train because they have a strong character? Is that true? Was Sushi easy to train?
    I am also a happy dog owner since a couple of months. But he's a little bigger than Sushi (he's only 5 months old but already weighs 25kg). I have a Argentine Mastiff puppy called Hermès. He is truly my best friend (can't say love of my life or fiancé will get jealous lol)
    You can read more about him and how he reacted during the long drive from France to Morocco here http://b-by-bel.blogspot.com/2012/09/welcome-to-morocco-hermes-argentine.html
    Cheers!
    Bel

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  29. Your dog is so adorable, i want a puppy like yours now^^!! I love your story <3 I'm in love with my two little bunnies! My life would be so sad without them so i understand you ;) xoxo!

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  30. such a beautiful dog...Everyone likes to have pets, if you want to keep it,
    then we are the best pet's shop and best breeders in Dehradun,Uttarakhand(India).

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  31. Als u denkt om pomeranian kopen, is dit de juiste plaats voor u. Onze puppies groeien op in een huiselijke omgeving, zijn speels en goed gesocialiseerd.

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  32. Hi There,
    Thank you for sharing the knowledgeable blog with us I hope that you will post many more blog with us:-
    The Pomeranian (often known as a Pom) is a breed of dog of the Spitz type that is named for the Pomerania region in north-west Poland and north-east Germany in Central Europe'
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    ReplyDelete
  33. What comes with the price of our puppies
    buy teacup chihuahua online

    webssite>>>>https://teacupchihuahuavilla.com/

    ReplyDelete

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