Saying Goodbye

Let me tell you about our family dog Bunches. Bunches was a terrier-mix breed dog adopted by my sister Michele whom was 12 years old at the time. I remember walking into the living room seeing her with a pair of scissors cutting chunks of fur off an ugly dog - fur flying all over the place. I asked her what she was doing and her response was, "I'm cutting off his sh**locks."
She said she was keeping him and naming him 'Bunches.'
"Why are you naming him Bunches?", I asked. She said it was because he had a bunch of sh**locks. Well thank goodness she didn't name him Sh**locks!

Bunches had A LOT of personality, he was run over by a car one day and walked home with a limp. My sister was older and studying massage therapy at the time and would massage him everyday. And everyday when my sister would arrive home, Bunches would greet her with a limp and my sister would massage his paw. Our mom had a talk with her and told her that Bunches was not hurt at all and he was faking his injury. My sister was stunned that she would accuse or ever think such a thing. Then one day, sure enough my sister catches bunches running and playing with the other dogs. She runs out and yells, "Bunches!" He stops in his tracks and starts limping towards her. She tells him,"Bunches stop it! I know you're faking." He then walks away with his head down no longer faking his limp.

Bunches had been run over 3 times over his lifetime and escaped with no "real" injuries. He never visited the vet until about 8 years ago when my sister became a vet tech. He was the sickliest looking dog you had ever seen and when the vet reviewed his test results; he was amazed with laughter that this dog had the healthiest results he had ever seen.

After 18 years of faithful companionship, Bunches passed on to that great backyard in the sky. We lost an iconic family member.