Once upon a time, there was a little girl who loved animals. Pretty much all animals, but especially horses and dogs and cats. However, horses aren’t welcome in most houses, so she had to wait until later to own horses, and so dogs took the top spot in her life.
When she was about seven, Nicodemus, the newly-acquired cocker spaniel, set off her big brother’s asthma to a dangerous degree, and the doctor said, “All pets go today.” That meant not just Nick but also Gretchen, the calico cat that had always been there in the girl’s memory, along with Gretchen’s kittens. That was one tough day.
For the next few years, the girl and her family made do with a parakeet named Blue Star and various goldfish and a couple of guinea pigs.
When the girl was eleven, she pestered her mom into trying again. “The dog can stay outside,” she promised. Her brother chimed in with pleas for a dog. Off to the pound they went.
They came home with a five month old puppy (sheltie/border collie mix) which the girl named Sugar. From May through September, Sugar stayed in a pen in the backyard, always staring mournfully toward the house. As it started getting cold, the girl began begging again. “Please can’t she come in. Please, please, please. She can stay in just one room and never go anywhere else in the house.”
Before long, Sugar took up residence in the dining room, then little by little inched her way into the girl’s room. By the time the girl grew up and got married, Sugar owned the house. She was also very protective of the girl. She ran off a guy who tried to push his way into the house when the girl was home alone. Eventually, Sugar protected the no-longer-a-little-girl’s daughters too. When Sugar crossed the rainbow bridge, she was buried in style, and everybody cried.
While her daughters were growing up, the girl and her little family owned (or were owned by) a number of different dogs. Lots of different breeds (most of them mixed breeds). All were loved. There were plenty of cats too, and they were equally loved. But this is a dog story.
With her nest empty, the girl got a border collie named Misty and two years later, a sheltie named Tiko to give Misty a playmate. What special dogs they were. But they pretty much lived outside. And when Misty and Tiko were getting older, the girl started wanting a little dog who would be with her while she was writing. An office dog.
And lo and behold, not long after, on Thanksgiving morning, the winner of the National Dog Show toy dog category was a Papillon, a breed unknown to the girl until that moment. She researched and by spring Poppet came to Idaho from South Dakota. Oh, how that little dog filled the girl’s office, home, and heart.
When Poppet crossed the rainbow bridge, the girl’s heart was so broken. She didn’t know if she could take loving and losing another dog. But a few months later, Boo Bear (an Idaho papillon puppy) brought chaos and laughter back into her home, along with about a million little puppy bites on her arms. Boo healed all the broken and cracked places left by Poppet’s departure. What a good dog! And what a personality.
After a number of years, the girl started telling everyone that Boo would be her last dog. She (the girl) was getting older. Dogs were a lot to take care of. Dogs made travel difficult. There were vet visits and dog food and heartworm medication and Whimzees for teeth health, etc. So many reasons that, added together, made good sense for Boo to be her last dog. And all the while she was saying that to her friends and family, she was scrolling through photos of papillon puppies on dog sites. She thought she could just look at them and do nothing about it.
She was wrong.
Meet Em-Dash, the Oklahoma puppy who is coming to live with the girl and Boo in less than two weeks. All two-plus pounds of her. When the girl saw her face, she was a goner.
The girl is pretty sure there will be more to this story. Stay tuned for updates.
Do you have a dog story to share?
Note: Photos of Sugar and other beloved pets exist but are in photo albums in the garage and not available for scanning and sharing.
Robin Lee Hatcher
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- A Dog Story - May 1, 2026
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