Kenya

My first glimpse of Kenya was years and years ago, when another Claudia took a ride up from Vegas to see my place, and enjoy the day. She had Kenya, and another black girl, Deuce, with her. She was having trouble with Deuce because she was an alpha girl, and Kenya – also an alpha girl – was Claudia’s first and favorite. So that day I helped her place Deuce with another family, and she and Kenya went home, alone, together.

Tragedy struck when a few years later, Claudia died of cancer at 40, and Kenya went to live with her boyfriend. That lasted a few years, and she was given to another friend. Then that friend couldn’t take care of his 5 greyhounds anymore and she came to me.

I saw her again at the Greyhound Gathering – 2000. An adopter had watched her for the month for me, and brought her to the Gathering. A scared, quiet girl with a stub tail, an overbite and a few rotten teeth left. She was listless, and uncomfortable in the crowd, and the only animation was when she saw a tall blond-haired woman who reminded her of her first Claudia. Her little tail just kept wagging and wagging, and she play-bowed, and was suffused in the joy of this reminder of her past love.

At the Gang’s house she kept her own counsel initially. I had many dogs, and was exhausted from the Gathering, and she didn’t require much from me. We removed all but two of her remaining teeth, and she was a tough old broad coming out of anesthesia. She was eating the same day.

On walks, she was well behaved, listened and was full of energy. Her back end was weak when I got her, but with courses of glucosamine and chondroitin within three weeks she was feeling as spry as a puppy, and then her true personality really emerged.

I kept trying to adopt her out, as I limit myself to two personal dogs. But though people liked her, no one wanted to keep her. One day she made it very clear to me that she had decided who was going to be her next home. Some people came over to meet her, and she refused to meet them. Just went to the door, took one look, and went into my bedroom and refused to come out. From that day forward, she refused to meet any visitors to my home. She was perfectly clear about where she wanted to stay.

And so she wiggle-waggled her way into my heart and home. She’d leap onto my bed at night, and just run her body across mine, her needle nose under my arm, or on my pillow, or in my face. Love me, love me, was her body language, and she was so easy to love. She would just fall onto her side next to me asking for her nightly massage. As I rubbed her body, she’d roll over on her back, tongue hanging out her toothless mouth, with pure pleasure written all over her for the world to see. She had no trouble letting you know that she knew what touching was all about, and that every chance for a tummy rub was a chance for love.

Kenya not only knew how to express love, she could always make me laugh. She’d start wagging that stub of a tail, and it would move a mile a minute, and her whole body would move with it, and we’d roll around on the floor, just laughing and being silly together. Or the smile she’d evoke when I saw her cockroaching on the dog bed with her tongue out the side of her now toothless mouth, that overbite nose straight to the ceiling, Then there was her special ability of spraying the wall and me as she voraciously ate the warmed chicken soup, rice, squash and kibble fed her daily.

Her joy of life was infectious. On walks she’d sashay on the red sand, keeping up with all the youngsters. Telling them she could hang with them, ’cause she was tough. I’d always be asking her to just stay and walk beside me. But no, Kenya was with the leaders, making sure nothing was going to escape her. This girl, though born a sight hound, wanted to be a scent hound. She viewed the world through her nose on our walks, and I’d be repeatedly calling her name, only to find her long needle nose buried deep in some bush, finding out about everybody’s business that went before. She wouldn’t settle for the Reader’s Digest version either, she wanted to keep that nose deep in whatever until she knew all the gory details. I’d often be ahead yelling her name repeatedly until she decided to become undeaf and flew towards me looking for her next adventure.

I thought we would have so many more memories together. I thought she would actually outlive my Beauty. My wiggle-waggle, so-young girl that daily lived in joy. I am lost without her soft white fur to sink into, without the ability to watch that wiggle walk, without her.