Remembering Spanky

Today, on her 19th birthday, Spanky Murray-Sanchez crossed over the Rainbow Bridge, joining JC, Knickie, Morgaine, Jerry, and Gwinnie.

Spanky was a Jack Russell Terrier, half smooth and half rough.  Dr. Phil Hinko, her Vet, always laughingly asked, “What’s this?” when he saw her funny coat.  This morning, Dr. Hinko and his wonderful staff provided a soft pink mat, a lit candle, and gentle assistance as we helped her transition to the Rainbow Bridge.

She was born in Santa Fe, and was originally named Baby Cakes. When we went to pick her out, she picked us out, bringing us a tennis ball and demanding we play with her now.  We named her Spanky, the nickname Dad Byron gave his youngest daughter, Maggie.  It was the Easter weekend when she joined our family; we took her to meet my niece, Patrice Vigil, who was five, and she fit nicely in Patrice’s Easter basket.

Spanky loved her Unca Zeo, and he (my brother Leo) loved her right back. Before the other dogs joined the family, Spanky would get so excited when he came to visit.  Leo and Spanky played with the tinker light, with Spanky running back and forth across the passageway between the living room and the den.  When her Unca Zeo came to visit, Spanky didn’t care about anything or anyone but him – she sat next to him and wouldn’t go outside to do her business unless he went with her.

Since her days as a puppy, Spanky spent every evening lying next to me in a lounge chair, wrapped up in her plaid blanket like a burrito.  I always had to buy a lounge chair that was wide enough for Spanky to fit comfortably.  In addition to being the cuddle-Mommie, I am the treat-Mommie, so Spanky followed me around, lying at my feet in the kitchen as I fixed dinner, waiting to catch a stray morsel or two, or waiting patiently for a piece of chicken jerky.  Maggie is the toys-Mommie, so Spanky would chase tennis balls and the tinker light whenever she could coax her Mommie Maggie to play. (In her younger days, she was relentless!)  She slowed down as she got older, and eventually couldn’t run after the tinker.  She would bark at it when the other dogs and cats chased it, but she knew she could only watch.

As the years went by, she was joined by the Munchkin cats (there are now nine: Toby, Ashley, Daisy, Lucy, Abe, Max, Ozzie, Thea, and Simon); Echo, the Jack Russell Terrier that came from Maggie’s Mom; and the Vizslas, Buddy and Tricie.

Today, she left her furry siblings behind to take care of her Mommies, and she began chasing the stars as they dart across the Rainbow Bridge, with the energy of Baby Cakes.