Friday, March 29, 2024
Miles from the Mainstream
D. R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor

Remembering  Lenox;
A Very Special Companion

March 6, 2020 --

I lost Lenox one year ago, March 8, 2019.  Although I  cannot say that I loved Lenox more than I loved my  previous four dogs -- Terry I, Terri II, Shalosh and Shana --  I most assuredly did not love Lenox less. 

The difference is that I miss Lenox more than I missed my other dear dogs, because I expected that Lenox, (who came into my life when he was three and a half) like my other dogs, would live well into his teens. I miss his, well his "specialness."

Sadly, Lenox was put to sleep when he was only 11 and a half; I had expected that Lenox would be with me at least another five years.

It is said of people, "too soon old, too late smart."   With dogs, it is simply, "too soon old."  Lenox, from the outset was very smart. I would usually let him off the leash when we went for walks and went to the park.  Often, in a park, I would read a newspaper, while Lenox went about his way. There were times when I would look up and shout his name, and he would emerge from whatever spot he was checking out, and look at me as if to say, "Don't worry, I've been keeping my eye on you."

I miss the way he loved to play with squeaky toys, until he "killed" the squeak. (His record was under one minute.)  I loved the way he picked up a favorite toy, before we went out for a walk, holding the toy in his teeth the entire walk.  I loved the way his stubby tail wagged rapidly when he met a girl dog he liked. I loved the way people smiled on seeing him accompanying me on walks or on shopping trips.  

Lenox also enjoyed riding in the LPRmobile and headed straight for the garage and, when the garage door was opened, he headed straight towards the spot where the care was waiting for us. And as the accompanying image indicates, Lenox loved to stick his head out of the car when we went for a drive.  He especially liked to sit on my lap, right behind the steering wheel, while the car was in motion, as if to pretend that he, not I, was the driver.   And while I had the car, Lenox love to be taken to Rockaway and run in a circle at water's edge.

Remembering Lenox


Lenox, in our apartment, was independent and liked to sleep on the sofa in our living room.  But he would also come into the bedroom, stand up and lean on the edge of the bed, waiting for me to pick him up and toss him beside me. Lenox also enjoyed when I bathed and dried him, and was very good when, twice a day, I gave him his insulin injections, and eye drops.  (He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was seven.)  A few years later he came down with pancreatitis.

I am guilty of not playing enough with him in our apartment.  When he became my companion, he liked to chase after a ball, not a unique form of play for a dog, but he had a habit of picking up the ball and getting it to roll under the bed, or under a piece of furniture, barking, of course, for me to get the ball for him.  I guess he agreed to accept a squeaky to a compromise object for play.  Mark Twain wrote:  "Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit , you would stay out and your dog would go in." A doorman in our building, on hearing of my loss, said of Lenox, "He's in a better place now."   I could not have been given better indication that  Lenox, as of March 8, 2019 is now in Heaven, playing  with Terry I, Terri II, Shalosh and Shana.