Brandy has finally decided it’s time to say goodbye to all of us and to join his brother Caesar in that other world where pain and sickness is gone, and where he can have whatever treats he wants whenever he wants them. Caesar left us in early March 2004, but Brandy decided to stay with our mom and dad for a while longer. He knew that they were sad, and that they needed him to stay. For those of you not familiar with the dachshund part of the Goldberg family, Brandy and Caesar joined the family just over 14 years ago, and they’ve managed to bring smiles to all of our faces since then.
While people often thought Brandy was the quieter of the two, he actually thought that he was in charge. He would let Caesar do all of the “I want a snack, where’s the food” begging, but of course he joined in enjoying the prize. And once Caesar left us, Brandy took over that role. Brandy has been ill for a while, and he needed to eat small meals more often. He probably thought that he was really in charge because every time he asked for food he was given another small meal. In fact, the total quantity of food was very similar to what he was getting before. Because of his problems, the vet requested that he be limited to dog food, and that he not get any of his favorite people food. But permission was given for a little bit of banana every so often. Brandy did love his bananas! Toward the end he really rejected his dog food, and his vet gave Mom permission to feed Brandy some of his cherished people food – and he loved that she was cooking for him. It’s funny though – even when he was offered his mom-prepared people food during his stay at the vet’s, he really preferred his dog food there. Do you think he had his people wrapped around his tail? (No really, he doesn’t have a little finger, so he used his tail instead!)
When it came time to eat, Brandy had his own way of expressing his “hurry up and feed me” thoughts. While his human was fixing his food – and that human was usually our mom – he jumped at her legs. Jump, jump, jump… It’s a good thing he was a little dog so that he didn’t knock her over. After all, having a dog knock into the back of your legs could cause a fall, but luckily that never happened.
Bringing toys for the guys? Since there were two of them, people usually brought two toys. Of course they were shared, but somehow (after a while) Brandy would grab both – one to guard, one to chew. And he loved licking toys. His favorite was a teddy bear that by the end of Brandy’s stay with us had much of the “fur” licked off. He would lick it and lick it until he fell asleep...
And speaking of licking, he loved to lick people’s skin too. I remember when I visited during my cross-country bike trip – he greeted me with a gleam in his eyes wanted to clean the salty sweat off of my legs! Lick, lick lick...
Walking on a leash was sometimes OK with Brandy – but only if you went at the pace he was interested in at the time. There were many occasions when he walked on the outbound leg, but he convinced his walker that he needed a ride home. Being carried in someone’s arms somehow came out ahead of walking himself. He had his people well-trained, didn’t he?
Brandy spent a month at the vet’s while his Mom was in Boston with me after I had a bit of a mishap with my bike last spring. Leaving him home alone in his crate while his dad (our dad!) was at work was just too long a day for him, and the folks at the animal hospital love him too. So he didn’t spend that month alone in a cage. He came out to play with the folks that worked there, and they made sure that he had an opportunity to meet and play with some of the other (animal) residents. I sent my apologies to him for borrowing his favorite person for that length of time – and I’ve been told that he forgave me. I certainly hope so!
For the last few years he was afraid of the steps. But on one morning he forgot and managed to make it downstairs on his own. Apparently he would go down 1 or 2 stairs, then realize what he was doing and stop for a bit. One or two more...
Toward the end he spent a lot of time sleeping. He woke up often and would go looking for Mom. Once he found her, he would happily go back to sleep. And in the evenings he would happily crawl into the space next to Dad on his favorite chair in the living room. He was definitely attached to the family he lived with! In fact I remember one time when I was the only human home with Brandy and Caesar (we were all staying with Suze in King of Prussia). They were beside themselves – where were their “normal” humans? They managed to calm down as long as I stayed in the room with them. Do you think they were spoiled?
It's a sad day today; it's hard to say goodbye to someone (somedog?) who brought so much love into our lives. I'm sure that Brandy sends thanks to our mom & dad for loving him for all of these years. He loved living with them, and I'd like to believe he is still watching over both of them. (And he asked me to tell them that he is hanging out with Caesar again...)
 | Brandy, enjoying the sun on a shiny morning in May 2004 |
Memories of Caesar can be found in my March 9, 2004 River of tears… blog entry.
More pictures of Brandy & Caesar can be seen in my photo gallery titled The ‘guys’ - hey, are we really dogs? We think we're people...
