Megan

After I got home, little Megan's tumor started to get worse. On Tuesday, it oozed bits from its interior. I felt like a nurse when my mom and I cleaned them up. She was still so chipper, but we knew this meant it was time. Exactly a week after I got home-- on Wednesday, Megan had to be put down. Even up to going onto the table, she was energetic and gave kisses and ate treats. She was always a happy little dog.
I've been thinking back to some of the best Megan memories (most also involve Steve). Lots of them are of Megan being naughty. One of the first really involved ME being naughty. My mom would walk Steve to school to get Natalie and I would stay home with Megan and have my snack. Well Megan looked rather sad on the floor so I let her sit at the table and eat treats off of a plate! Sometimes we'd come around a corner when she was little and find her standing on the table.


Megan was very tolerant. She used to let us dress her up. She got all sorts of outfits. She was a mermaid and a popstar. She would just act like jello as we moved her limbs to cloth her and generally participated for the associated photo-shoot. This earned her lots of accessories (compared to Steve's single collar since puppyhood). She got a purple sweater and later a pink one. She got a pink collar with rhinestones and a pink one with polka dots.
She also got loads of nicknames: Maemae, Moomoo, Meggy, Peggy, Peggers, Mini, Princess... I'm sure there are more.
On Megan and Steve's birthdays, we'd throw them mini-parties. We made them crowns out of construction paper and dressed them up and fed them hamburgers from Burger King. On Christmas, they got wet food which they woofed down and stank of for a while afterward.
A couple of times, we took Megan and/or Steve to my neighbor's yard when they weren't home. They had a pool and we made the dogs try swimming. They didn't like it and swam to us and clawed to be picked up. One time, Megan saw the neighbor's dog across the pool and ran straight toward her, neglecting the pool in between. She fell straight in.
We also made them try out skate boarding in the hall. Both dogs had to take a turn sitting on the skateboard and getting a little push. Megan could ride halfway down the hall!


Megan loved to have balls and bones and toys. She didn't love for Steve to have them. SHE wanted it all. She was very protective.
Megan's little coat was somehow installed backwards. The fluffy undercoat was on the outside so she was the softest dog in the world.
We gave them baths in the backyard a few times and gave them haircuts in the hall. Steve would squirm and run away but Megan was more cooperative.
One time, she got to taste frosting and I guess it stuck in her mouth becuase she kept licking the air and it showed us exactly how long her GIANT tongue really was.
Megan always loved using that tongue too, for kissing her people. She had difficulty knowing when to stop. We joked her tongue was like sandpaper by the time she quit! Near the end, the tumor made kisses uncomfortable, but she still gave them out occassionally or nosed us in almost the same motion.
One of the main things that I will always remember is Megan bounding across the yard. She seeemed to bounce and run simultaneously toward squirrels and birds and... the back fence. She had the sillies bark. It sounded more like a chicken, almost muffled.


The best thing about Megan was that she would just sit on the sofa with us for hours. She loved her people and we loved her (still do). Megan's been a part of my life for the majority of it. She was going on 15 and I'm going on 24. She was like my sister and I'm just not sure what to do without her.