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Obituary for my Childhood Dog
My childhood dog was the best dog in the world! This is what I learned from him and some about his life.
September 5, 2022
Ms. Butterfly
Eddie Meng was 18 and a half years old.
Apparently that means that he was 129.5 years old in human age.
A brother, a son, a father and a grandfather, Eddie warmed the hearts of anyone who met him and was mean only to his grandkids.
He's lived a full life; born in Hong Kong, then living in Beijing then Taipei. He has ridden a plane, a train and a boat. On his neck there's a chip that indicates that he's a police dog, done so that he could safely smuggle across the border between Hong Kong and ShenZhen. Eddie Meng was iconic.
He's the kind of dog that was both elegant and cute.
He was excitable but never irritating; he would greet you at the door bark an appropriate amount and jump at your thigh. Since he's little and always maintained around 3.5kg (5 lbs) he gets away with it. He also would stop barking once you gave him a satisfying scratch behind the ear.
He's got an impeccable aim for when he jumped and could pounce onto the smallest patch of couch. If you sat down on a couch he would jump to whatever sliver of space that was next to you and cozy up, then drape a paw onto your thigh, asking you kindly to pet him. If you gave him a little love he would give you the most tender snuggle.
When we walked around the house he would follow on his soft paws, not too far away but also not too close so that you would trip or feel pressured.
He was always ready to cheer me up, when I was feeling down he would jump to wherever I was sitting and snuggle up.
Eddie was not trained with doggy snacks, and so he's not very motivated by food. I think this makes him quite elegant for a dog. He found no need to pander. He listened carefully to the tone of voice and was happy when I was happy. He learned his basic tricks like sit and stay like that, but I never taught him more tricks, partially because I thought sit and stay was enough since he basically understood everything we were saying all the time anyways.
He also engaged in catch as a puppy only a little bit, finding the back and forth to be entertaining for a while. He was really more a dog that wanted to accompany our activities instead of playing doggy games.
Because he was so intuitive he was particularly good at revenge, when I was little and we were all out of the house he would be upset at us. He would show us by pooping one small poop in the center of the table and also in the center of our beds. This was not too messy of an affair, but it was so calculated that we assume that it was meditated on and an act of anger. "Why did you leave me here alone guys?"
He understood everything quite well.
Indeed one time he had a fight with our Ayi (he refused to continue the walk with his kids around the block) and she said "alright, I'm going to leave you here and you figure out your own way back because I'll go back with the others from the other door!" She of course felt guilty right afterwards and went to go try and get him after a few minutes. But he was gone! He was found waiting for her, sitting tall and proud in the other doorway.
I sometimes think that he knew what was going on in the house more than I did.
Every time I practiced piano he would delicately jump onto the piano stool and sit in that space between the end of the piano stool and the small of my back. Every time I sat down and opened the piano to practice he would be there, accompanying me. Now whenever I practice I think of his warm furry body pressed against me, accompanying my every note, good or bad. He was always there for me.
He was also kind of a prima donna, and enjoyed fancy hair cuts. Once he came back with a haircut that made him look a little too skinny. We told him we thought he looked kind of funny and I think we poked fun at him. He proceeded to not come out from under the couch and barely ate or drank for three days! He was upset at the haircut and we knew better next time to give him the kind of poof for his head that he liked.
Sometimes I did see him staring at himself in the mirror, but I couldn't tell what the feeling behind it was.
Till his penultimate year he could still run around like a puppy, few would've thought that he was basically 100 years old.
He also loved to be picked up, and when my dad picked him up he would always drape a hand over his shoulder, and sit there calmly.
Eddie was the best dog in the world. He was calm but not boring, excitable but not irritating, and had the sweetest demeanor ever. He was only ever mean to his grandchildren for taking some of his spotlight, which makes a little sense.
We love you Eddie and I know you're always still here for us.
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