Annie, Anna Banana, Nana Nana, Nanners, Neeners, Anna Bella, Anna, Anne & Griz…all names for my best bud, girl dog, now residing in Paradise and leaving me broken hearted. How did 10+ years go so fast? They weren’t perfect years in my life, but this 85 lb. furry dog made them better, all and all.
It was like music to my ears, to hear my then 16 year old daughter tell me what she wanted for her birthday. I prepared myself for the obvious… a car, or the trendy... tickets to a Dave Matthews concert, but no the request was a puppy. Celebration time for me! Now could I convince my husband that we needed another dog? We had an old cat of 13 and an old Malamute dog turning 12. I was delighted to hear him say OK. Time was short as Kirsten's birthday was fast approaching. Could we find a suitable puppy for our old dog? The Lewis & Clark Humane Society was a bust, no puppies. I found an interesting ad in the newspaper for “free puppies”. They were Akita/Lab/Blue Heeler/Shepherd, but when I called the man said “no, sorry they are all gone”. Dang, the last option was the pet store. Indeed there were puppies there, they were Akita/Lab/Blue Heeler/Shepherd. Guess my newspaper friend couldn’t give his puppies away so he took them to the pet store. The newspaper "free" puppy, was now a 75.00 puppy. Still a great deal, we picked the biggest, most mellow looking, fluffy one of the litter. I have my doubts about the Shepherd and Heeler, but this puppy was definately of Akita descent. Which as I found out later has it's pluses but a number of minuses too...very stubborn and independent! This little gal seemed very smart, because when we took all the puppies out of the kennel to play, she was the only one to wet on the newspaper, and besides she was adorable and fuzzy and BIG. Lucky for me in finding her, because I was out of time. It was officially January 23, 1999, Kirsten’s 16th Birthday. She was off snowboarding and we took our new family member home with about an hour to spare. I found an old wicker pet basket I had at home and plopped the baby fur ball in it. Like magic she fell asleep. We hide her in the living room and proceeded to place a small bag of puppy chow on the stairs and a little pooper scooper shovel along with it, so that Kirsten would see this first as she came in the house. She did and she was not amused! She thought it was a cruel joke! The grumpy encounter soon changed to laughter and smiles, when she was led into the living room and the blanket was removed from the little basket and there was a cute, funny, cuddly puppy. The BEST birthday present!
The rest is kind of a blur. Although I do remember that the mellow puppy was anything but (Akita Brain), and though she loved her big sidekick Mischa, she also tormented him from the get go. As soon as she got big enough to grab at Mischa's big curly, handsome, sled dog tail, she did! In a matter of a few weeks this superb tail had been reduced to a stick, and Annie showed us all that she had true heeler herding abilities as she herded our old boy around the backyard. It wasn’t a bad thing though, because Mischa developed a new zest for life, as he found himself competing with this little version of himself. I kind of figure that Annie probably added 2 extra years to Mischa’s life and helped him to get in shape, and his tail did grow back!
So here we are 10 years later... and my day by day companion is now at the end of her wonderful, zany life on this earth. As loved and unique as our first dog Mischa was, our Annie was too. A people lover, but not a dog lover. Annie allowed almost any human to become her friend, but her circle of dog friends was limited to a select few, as is the true nature of a guard dog like the Akita. She tolerated and grew to love our 2 cats and even allowed two puppies into our household, though she asserted and remained the alpha female. The stories and laughs she brought to us are enough to fill a book and too much for a blog. I loved to look out my kitchen window and see her sitting high on the hill in the backyard and as soon as she would see me she would make eye contact and come running, wiggling all over. As she got older and had to share her house with 2 young dogs, she would come inside and demand to have ”her” dog bed, by pacing back and forth and refusing to stop, until the intruder was ousted. She had the ability to Akita/dog chatter by making funny, little, short dog noises when she had something important to say to us. How she loved to see me put on my hiking shoes! She would do a crazy, bouncy dance all the way to the back gate and beyond as we headed for Mt. Helena. Once there it was her position to lead everyone that came with and she kept tabs on us all too, if someone lagged behind she went back and found them (always the herder).
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
~ Josh Billings
Our big, beautiful Anna Bella we will miss you! Thank you for being our dog…until we meet again!
