I Forgot a Headline for This Post

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***Bernie in "her" (my) bed, October, 2006***

On my bed now is a black comforter that has a big rip on the top of it. Bernie ripped it. I mentioned in my thank yous that Bernie had ripped up some pillows long ago when Lenny left her alone for a few. I mentioned her eating the door. And I mentioned she loved to eat her stuffed "monkeys." When it came to stuffed animals I gave her to chew on, she always went for the eyes first--pulling and twisting till they came off. Then she'd destroy the rest.

Anyway, my comforter has a big rip in it, the result of one of Bernie's last acts of rage. She had a bit of separation anxiety, hated to be left inside alone for, oh, the first 13 years of her life. So she'd take it out on the linens--a new pair of bedsheets that I really liked so I sewed them up and used them for a couple years after, pillows, the comforter. She never chewed on anything else. Well, I had to pay a penalty for some gnawing she did on some nice new doors at a place I lived in Tahoe. All in all, though, she caused very little phyical damage. As I mentioned, never chewed on Chad's stuffed animals, never chewed shoes or anything. Of course, she was outside almost all the time when I wasn't here, unless it was super cold. She'd never bark outside unless someone messed with her. Or toddlers came by--children freaked her out for, oh, the first 13 years of her life. They were like little aliens to her. My dilemna was that they always wanted to pet Bernie, so soft and cuddly.

So I'd tell the little kiddies to hold on a sec, and I'd sit Bernie down and get on my knees beside her, petting her. Then I'd invite los ninos to pet her, one at a time. Invariably, their trepidation flashed into a smile as soon as their hand hit the fur. "She's so soft!" Bernie would be wiggling, in her own little hell as the neighborhood freak show. I'd pet her, though, telling her she's a good girl, my hand also against her collar, ready to snap her head away should she release the lion-dragging jaws she possessed.

She never bit anyone other than me on day one, probably because she knew it would make me sad if she bit someone.

She never made me sad.