As I listen to Chad making popcorn in the kitchen, one the first things I think of is our dog, Nube. She LOVED popcorn. We taught her to sit and wait for us to toss the popcorn in the air, and she was quick to snatch it into her mouth. It was pretty impressive how fast you could throw it at her face and she'd catch it.
We got Nube the year after we were married. We rented a small blue house that didn't allow pets. We knew we were ready to make that commitment, so we found a duplex that allowed dogs.
Chad and I looked for the perfect dog. We looked online, at the Newton humane society (Caring Hands), and other places but didn't find one we thought would suit us. Wichita Humane Society, however, had Nube.
We were hooked when we saw her. This little, white, tame, brown-eyed puppy (6 months old) just waiting for someone to take her home. Chad and I talked about having a dog that didn't shed too much, and a dog that wasn't too hyper. When we saw the puppy sitting so nicely while we talked to her, we fell in love. So, she came home with us.
Little did we know we had brought NUBE home with us.
Figuring out Nube's name took a few days. We finally decided on Nube because in Spanish it means cloud. She was all white at the time, so it seemed to fit well.
Funny how we thought this little, sweet puppy was going to be quiet and free from shedding. We learned quickly this wasn't the case. Nube loved to be with people, so trying to kennel her at night did not work. I remember wondering if our neighbors on the other side of the wall stayed up listening to her bark as long as we did those first few months. And the shedding... in the spring... that winter coat was swept up everyday after school. I would get so mad at her for shedding so much. I realized later it wasn't her fault, but it was still so frustrating. We would take Nube out on the porch to brush her, and there would be clumps/handfulls of hair that came off that brush.
Nube loved our kids, and for the most part our kids loved her, too. (Besides the comment Jada made a few days ago when she started to say, "Goodbye Nube.." and ended with, "Oh, yeah. You're dead.") Below are a few pictures we got when the girls were little.
Nube was with us for a few years before Gracie came along. The picture below is Nube trying to figure this "thing" out.
A few months ago we noticed Nube was starting to either seem old, or was getting sick. She wanted to drink and drink, but didn't need to go out to the bathroom all that much. She had to be picked up every once in a while because her back end would start giving out on her, making it hard to walk or climb steps. She was sleeping a lot more around the house. Sometimes she was too weak to walk too far from one sleeping spot to the other.
A few weeks ago I took Nube to my Uncle Norman, who is a vet. When he did a blood test, he found out that Nube was losing red blood cells. Instead of having 8 million, she had 2 million. He suspected some kind of cancer- maybe bone marrow cancer. I was given antibiotics to give her for the week. However, after throwing up everything she ate that first day, she refused to eat the next three. Chad took her back to Uncle Norman on Friday. The blood work showed she lost more red blood cells. So, on Sunday we had her put to sleep.
Our first family dog.
She was...
as hyper as any puppy can be,
so sweet to kids,
a peanut butter and popcorn lover,
a bed sleeper (and liked sleeping on Chad's side of the bed),
a watch dog (always barking at something going on outside),
prissy about getting her feet wet,
our first baby.
Goodbye Nube.
We'll miss you.
