Sockie & Me

Over the weekend, we watched Marley & Me on DVD. It was a fun movie, especially for a dog lover like me. As for the movie, I found the acting compelling and the story very interesting. Deb, not being a dog lover, would have given the heave-ho to the dog in the first 15 minutes of the movie! In a big turnaround--I cried and Deb didn't!

SPOILER ALERT!
If you have not seen the movie and do not want to know how it ends, do not read the rest of this post. I am going to relate aspects of the movie to my first dog, Sockie, especially on how the movie ends.

I have always been a dog lover. When an opportunity came up to get a dog, I jumped on it. I was living in Salt Lake City with Uncle Ralph at the time. Tom Gambles, my cousin, hooked me up with a year-old Cocker Spaniel. The owner had moved and was unable to take the dog with him. The dog was living at the owner's parents home, but they were gone a lot so the dog was left alone--chained up in the backyard. A neighbor would feed and water him, but the dog wasn't happy with his life. Naturally, the owner's parents were very willing to let me take him.

Tom took me to pick him up. When we got there, Sockie went crazy. We could hardly contain his excitement--especially when Tom unhooked him from his chain. Sockie, who was named after the Portuguese word for volleyball, was a big, matted ball of fur. For those that know about Cocker Spaniels, they need haircuts--and often. Sockie must not have had one for months.

We loaded Sockie into the back of Tom's pick up and headed back to the house. A few blocks down the road, Tom looked back where Sockie was supposed to be, but he wasn't there. We turned around and found him trying to make friends with another dog. He loved other dogs and it did not matter how viciously they were barking, he wanted to go sniff the other dog. In any event, we tied him in the bed of the truck and went home.

The next day, I took Sockie to get groomed and to have a check up. I think the receptionist about had a coronary when she saw him. He was so furry and matted. When I came back a couple of hours later to pick him up, I did not recognize him. The vet said he was healthy except his ears had an infection. He told me that was typical with floppy-eared dogs, and I would have to keep on top of it. As I turned out, it was a battle all of Sockie's life.

When I first got Sockie, it was to be a temporary arrangement. As such, I tried to keep my emotional distance from him. I did not want to get too attached to him because I did not want to get heart broken when the owner came to get him. However, as the days went by, it was tough to keep my distance. Then one late summer evening, I was sitting outside petting Sockie. He was on my lap. I realized that I did really love the dog, and I was in it for the long haul. As it turned out, the original owner never did ask for him back.

When I first got Sockie, he hated to be alone. I was determined to make him an outdoor dog. However, he would bark and whine every time I would go into the house to go to bed. It was Uncle Ralph who told me to bring him in and make him an indoor dog. Uncle Ralph was to blame for all the clothes that Sockie chewed!!!!

As an indoor dog, Sockie was very easy to house train. I only had to correct him a couple of times before he knew that he had to do his duty outside. Although Sockie loved being outside, he did not want to be out there alone for a very long time. However, his male instincts would take over at times, and he would disappear for a long time if he caught a scent of a female anywhere near. It was at such one time when he disappeared for a few days. I finally found him in the pound. Being locked up didn't keep him from wandering though. Years later, when we had him "fixed," he did stop wandering.

Sockie made the transition from Salt Lake to Swan Lake quite easily. The typical Cocker Spaniel haircut--short on the top and long on the bottom--was done, though. He would come in from outside with all kinds of burrs and weeds in his fur. He never got another "Cocker cut" again.

When I got married, Mom (bless her soul) kept Sockie with her. A few months after we were married, Mom called me to tell me that Sockie was not doing good. He was not eating and had diarrhea with blood in it. Deb and I took him to the vet in Preston. I held Sockie on my lap as Deb drove. When we got there, the doctor confirmed my fears. Sockie was dying. He said we could try to stop the bleeding, but it was very unlikely that he would recover. He suggested that we put him to sleep. With a broken heart, I agreed. As in the movie, the vet left us alone with Sockie to say our good byes. I told Sockie how much he had meant to me, and that I loved him. Then the doc came back in. Unlike the movie, though, I could not stay in the room and be there when he was euthanized. We took Sockie back to Swan Lake and buried him just across the fence in the backyard. Everytime I pull up to Mom's house, I think of my great friend Sockie.

"A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his." (Quote from the end of the movie--and so very true!)