Jenny

There are some things in life that have really struck me as amazing. The idea that if one little thing had gone differently, something huge may never have happened. I've often thought about this in terms of how Brad and I met. And certainly with regard to Elliott; the odds of everything lining up precisely a certain way to result in him, blows my mind. And, of course, with Jenny.

This has actually brought me to tears in the past. The idea of how easily this special little dog with all of her funny little quirks could have ended up with an entirely different family. I will forever be thankful that we were the ones that happened to end up at that lady's house ten minutes before the other couple, instead of the other way around (probably thanks to Brad's driving ;). She was so small and only 2 months old, to the day. She and her brother were the only ones left from her litter and frankly, we didn't know anything about her except that she was what we were looking for: a female, black and tan mini dachshund. So to say we were lucky to end up with her is an understatement at the very least.

I still remember the ride home with her. I held her in the back seat and she kept wanting to climb up my shirt to get around my neck...probably because she was terrified out of her mind. She cried that night and for the next several nights (we played the Cranberries "Everybody Else Is Doing It" continuously at night to try and calm her) while we tried to be 'good dog owners' and not let her sleep in bed with us. Finally, we gave in and our bed quickly became her bed, too. So many times Brad and I woke up to Jenny, in the middle, stretching out (and nose and bum-butting us) so she could touch both of us at the same time.


I can't tell you how many times people have laughed about the fact that I (as a "Jenifer") have a dog named Jenny. And we knew when we named her that we were asked for problems. But, when it came down to it, no other name fit her like "Jenny" did. The funny part was, when we were trying to name her, both Brad and I came up with the name independently (how often does that happen?) but it took both of us a while to own up to it because we thought it was just too ridiculous. I don't remember who said it first, but someone was like - well, I know it kinda seems silly but what do you think about Jenny? and the other one was - OMG (only it was "oh my god" back then), I've been thinking the same thing!! Well, you can't argue with fate and that is what it was, so we went with it. "Jenny" then led the way for a nearly infinite series of nicknames, including "JennyBen", "BennyBen", "JB", "Dog", "JennyBenenners", "Good Girl", "Sweetie Pie", "Little Girl", just to name a few.

She grew up with her doggy brothers Hershey Bar and Scrappy Doodle...who had been the best of friends until her arrival turned them into hormone driven competitors. Poor little girl would always come home smelly and drooly because those boys never lost an opportunity to try to 'win her over'. Their eyes would glaze over when they saw her and I'm pretty sure she became the only thing in the room for them. But who could blame them? She was really cute :)


What we quickly learned about Jenny, however, was that she wasn't your typical dachshund. Jenny was of the small minority of quiet, reserved and fairly timid dachshunds. Most of them think they are big dogs in little bodies. They have a big bark and, by golly, they aren't going to let their small stature stand in their way. Jenny was different. There was even a point in time when she wouldn't pee on public grass because she was too intimidated by those who had come before her. In fact, the first time she ever peed on the grass in front of our apartment building was after she had chased away a little boy, which I am assuming boosted her 'confidence' and upped her standing on the dominance scale. Regardless of how she felt about other dogs, she always took her job of protecting us VERY seriously. There were only a rare few who could ever come to our house and not be tormented by continuous barking for the first five minutes of their arrival.


Jenny spent the first three years of her life in Houston, where she so desperately sought out every sun spot available in the house. This girl was obsessed with the sun. When we started thinking about moving back to San Diego, that's what we kept telling her - you are going to love all the sun! And she did. As soon as we arrived, she began her daily sun bathing routine. In fact, her little pink belly would turn black during the summer with a sun tan!

Unfortunately, it was coming to San Diego (and us teaching her to go up and down stairs) that brought on the first of several bouts of strained disks in her back. We got to learn the warning signs and soon knew how to stop them before they got out of hand and required steroid treatments. We also learned the importance of glucosamine. And as long as she got her pill ever night, she did great! In fact, she had been back pain free for the last several years.


I think perhaps one of Jenny's most endearing quirks was her love of neck kisses. It started when she was a puppy and would try to wake us up in the morning to go outside. She would come up to lick our faces and in order to avoid her tongue we would kiss her neck...after all, it was the softest thing I think I've ever felt! As she grew up, she got so that she would demand neck kisses and if we ever laid down, whether in bed or on the ground, she would come up and put her neck over our faces. Sometimes, you could barely breathe she would push so hard waiting for her kisses. It was during one of these times, that we discovered she liked to be hummed to. She had accosted Brad and was waiting for her kisses when he started to laugh. I still remember her eyes as she felt the vibrations on her neck for the first time! She was in heaven! He could sing into her neck and her eyes would glaze. If he tried to stop, she would push her neck back over his mouth, so he could do it some more. Brad ended up with quite the repertoire of neck songs he would sing/hum to Jenny. She was especially fond of "Swing Low" because of all the good bass...but didn't mind "Gilligan's Island" either ;)


Jenny was also a lover of dog toys. It took us a while to figure out what she liked: she hated anything that was hard rubber...it tasted bad..., squeaky balls and bones had the longest life, but plush toys were the best...until she gutted them. Before Elliott's arrive, we were worried that she wouldn't leave his stuff alone and that she would destroy his stuffed animals. What we weren't counting on is that from the day we brought him home, she 'gave' all her toys to him. It still blows my mind that she would walk right past a perfect, small, plush toy because it was his.

Which brings me to Elliott's arrival...neither Brad nor myself could have asked for anything more from Jenny. Despite some initial jealousy pangs (I will never forget the look she gave me when she realized Elliott was ours. It was one of outrage. Like we had backed out of a deal we had made with her.), she quickly became his protector. Which meant she upped her role as protector 10 fold...especially when Brad wasn't there. Boy, she made sure you knew she was watching you (hello, crazy barking dog) and would usually put herself between me and Elliott, and the 'stranger' who had the nerve to come into her house and threaten her family ;)

We always thought if Jenny lived any shorter than the ripe old age of 18 years, it would be because of her back. Little did we know that there was a deeper issue growing because of her bad teeth. So in December, it was quite a shock to discover her kidneys were failing and her days were numbered. The good news was that her test results where in a range that usually corresponded with a 12-24 month remaining life span. The decomp stage could happen at any point, but we hoped we would still have a good amount of time left with her. Unfortunately, this was just not in the cards.

She began to decomp in the middle of June and despite a round of therapy that we hoped would flush out her kidneys enough to re-set the clock a bit, she began to fail again...this time with her eyesight failing as well. And while dogs and other animals are certainly more than capable of having a wonderful quality of life while blind, Jenny was just too sick to pull through. She became very confused and her personality disappeared. It was this change that made it so much easier to make the decision that both Brad and I knew was coming.

We know we can say goodbye to our girl, our first baby, knowing that she is now at peace and that we have helped her one final time. I can't even begin to imagine life without her, but she will always be apart of us and I am so glad that Elliott was able to know her, even if it was only for a short time.

Dear Sweet Jenny. We love you and we will miss you forever.

Jenny 11/11/1997 - 7/6/2010

JennyBen, is a really good girl
and she's a sweetie pie
That JennyBen, is a really good girl
and she's a sweetie pie
She has little brown dots and big floppy ears
and she's a sweetie pie