For Popeye, my beloved fat doggy.

November 1st 1998: A little girl trailed her way to find a perfect size puppy, such as a Dalmatian Dog. Her attempts failed as she swiftly moved through the rows of puppies and dogs again. There goes her hope for a spotted mammal running around the house.

Looking down she saw a fully grown Dalmatian Dog staring straight at her. Too creepy! She looked at the cage and the size of the spotted dog. Too big!

The little girl around her years of being on Earth was 4, and her hopes were as high as a girl who wanted to ask a guy out; coming forth the answer of yes...shattered, disoriented.

"Come here!" shouted the voice of a woman she reckoned. Roseanne was her name, a nice Italian lady that always sparked her day to be with their baking fiesta. The little girl's glittering brown eyes made contact with the little puppy that Roseanne was looking at.

Why this little soul didn't catch her eyes before, she wondered in dismay.

The little black puppy was sleeping in its cage, not even casting a glimpse at the people around him.

Her brother and father soon followed after. They exchanged a few "aw's" and "ah's." Her brother and she both reached out to touch it, as if it was some delicacy. Soon after, they allowed themselves to think, and it came to a final decision. They were going to take it home!

During that night, it was a terror. The ripping of cardboard could be heard, oh the whining of the puppy made it difficult to even close ones eyes. The dog was named Popeye then, they shouted and screamed. Of course the puppy had no idea they were talking to him.

November 2cd 1998: It became an act, to discipline this puppy...and it wasn't going to be jolly for both the owner, and the pup.

Many days, many months, many years had passed...The puppy was now a dog, a fat one to be precise with the details...Brown eyes shinning brighter than usual, and his little legs to support the watermelon belly...or heavier.

June 8th 2007: Best time of her life for the little girl...Well she wasn't little anymore, she was in her teens now. It was the night of her 8th grade dance. It was pretty lame at first, until the very end...She had her first experience to slow dance with a guy, and she rather much preferred to look at him than looking away...What a stupid thing she did. But was she didn't notice, was that it was the same night...her dog started to fall ill.

June 9th 2007: Popeye was breathing rather heavily, and he was puking when drinking water, or eating. The family decided to take him to the vet. The doctor gave him a blood test and assumed it was just a minor kidney problem...easily fixed with the use of medicine.

June 10th 2007: The girl was angered and raged as she picked up the phone to answer her brother's call. He didn't give any notification about what was really causing the problem of their beloved dog. He too, wasn't notified about the blood test results. They had promised that the results would be in during that Sunday, or Monday...but she only understood that it would have been in during that tomorrow...She was wrong though, and so was the promise...It made her in fury that tears started to stream down her face. She slowly walked outside to see her dog resting on the concrete, again breathing heavily. He was skinny, skinny as in the stomach seemed to be gone. "Its okay boy," she repeated to him and patted his head a couple of times. "It'll be fine..."

June 11th 2007: Blood test results FINALLY came, and it was believed and stated that the dog had diabetes. Nothing bad at all! The girl though as she brightened up, seeing the new rays of sunshine finally coming out of the dark clouds that lasted a couple of days.

June 12th 2007: Popeye was taken to the vet, he seemed worse than his condition can tell anyone. Once again, she was frightened and didn't bear to see the departure of her youthful friend...her family member.

June 15th 2007: Friday, she decided with her parents that they were going to visit their dog at the hospital. She told her brother and the only words he can repeat was "Tell him I'm going to visit him tomorrow," she looked at his eyes and knew something was wrong...a brother and sister thing. She asked him, "Were you crying?" It was a bit straight forward but she had no choice. He told her that the doctor said that Popeye wasn't doing good as he was suppose to. He still not eating or drinking...

...Hopeless...

She paid the visit and saw her beloved friend in the hospital. His breath was heavy and it smelled bad. She cried as she stared at him straight into the eyes, and he had tears in his eyes. She wanted to wipe away the tears off of his face, but it didn't clear up anything. He was in pain, and he was suffering too much. She decided to get the assistant to help bring Popeye back to his own room. When she opened the door, her dog got up...ready to go home. She didn't want to cry anymore, she didn't want to see him wanting to go home so eagerly...Because only one thing that she knew she couldn't have subsided. He wasn't going to be able to go home...

June 16th 2007: It was a quiet day; the sun wasn't out again...As if the clouds were a wall from seeing the deep blue skies. She had gone with her friends to eat at Friendlys, and finally departed from them. As she arrived home, moments later her brother and her father entered into the house...Her brother was crying dead dreary, as her dad kept on a fern gaze. They both separated, her brother went to the bathroom...Her father went to the garage.

"How is he, how is Popeye?" she asked, not really wanting to find the answer. Her brother didn't answer as he kept on weeping. She went to her father and asked the same question. He looked at her and only spoke softly, "He won't be coming home ever..."

She ran to her room and cried. She went to her brother who just got out of the bathroom.

"When is he...getting the shot?" she hesitated to ask.

"He got it already" was all he said.

If yesterday was going to be the last day she visited him, she would have said so much more to him than possible...During that day she cried again when she was in the car about to go to a family dinner. She was happy later to at least forget for that split second...But when she arrived home to rest; she cried again that night...

A week past and she finally finished her school days; it was a relief from all the stress of her romance life to be proven false (maybe) and the lost of her dog. Of course, she didn't think her dog was dead...He wouldn't have been. She still heard his barks during the afternoons when no one was home except her. Her brother would hear the clicking of his footsteps at night...No it wasn't hallucination, he wasn't dead...Believe them!

...But something was missing in the house, it was...too empty.

June 29th 2007: It was a long trip to the Animal Cemetery, but she managed with the help of her dad being the driver. When they finally arrived they asked for his ashes...he had been cremated. When she took the little green bag in her hand, she finally realized. He was really in her hands...The same little black dog she taken home during their youthful days. He was in her hands then and there...Reality hurts, and it hurt real badly. She was in denial throughout the past two weeks. When they were in the car she happened to shed a few tears, but no muffle of any cries. It was really him, sitting on her lap now as she held onto it. Popeye was really with her then...and she had to accept the fact that he was no longer physically there...

As they came home that day, she placed him on his brown couch were he mostly slept from dawn till dusk.

When everybody left, and was the only one in the house; she felt secured.

Ah, a sign a relief finally hit her...The house wasn't empty anymore!

June 30th 207: It was time to bury their dog. She didn't quite want to...She enjoyed the company as he laid there at the same spot throughout the whole time. She wanted to see him...But she knew better than that. It was nice having him still there sitting, sleeping...always. But what was nicer was the fact that he can finally rest in peace in their backyard...He was finally home!

...And today was the day that we will bury him, me being as the little girl who had seen him grew up as he saw me grew...

(Burial actually took place around 2 weeks later. He was buried in their backyard near a tree that he would usually rest upon during hot summer days.)

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Popeye was an amazing dog that was in my life ever since I moved to my new house out in Long Island. He was a mix lab and quite decent if you ask me. He had a nice fat face and just fat all around him. Not as jolly as other dogs, but when it comes to having walks...it's the most amazing thing! He would run around and try to catch, bark, and scare at other things. Usually Popeye would sleep his day away. He would even ask for food...That was the only time when he seemed livelier. During the years that we had him (1998-2007), we developed names for my loving dog. The names were such as: Poppy, Dumpling, Pumpkin, Munchkin, My Brother, Grandpa, Nigger (don't get offended), and Popeyelungzo. I also developed the name Popeye Lau.

How we found him was when we went to the adoption center to see a dog to bring home. My brother and I were originally going to get a Dalmatian dog, until Roseanne (my mom's friend) found the little black soul. We decided to have him, and Rosanne also came up with the name Popeye. Now, this is when it got freaky. I loved Popeye like a little girl loving her teddy bear. One time when he wanted to walk up the steps in my backyard, I said "I'll help you," and guess what his response was...? He said "NOOO!!" Haha it was funny. I don't know if I was hallucinating or was it really real. I started to spread what I heard with my ears to everyone, but no one believes me. I don't even know if I believe myself! (by the way, this is when I was little.) Another time was when I wanted to open the door for him to go outside. I then heard him say "LLLAAUUUU." (My cousin's last name) Another hallucination moment...Perhaps? So thus the name Popeye Lau was formed.

I loved the time most when he would rub himself all over the rugs. He had to scratch his back and this is what he did! Also when his nose is itchy, he would use his two front paws and starts trying to scratch it. He was cute when he did that. The only time you can get him to lick your face was when you blow right into his ears. Did I mention he loved car rides? He would usually be really scared at first, and then hyper the next...It was weird when he started to circle around the whole car.

Popeye was also a very shy dog when it came down to taking pictures of him. He somehow notices when the phone is set on camera to take a picture of him. If you have an actual camera, he would really hide his face. It was really adorable!

Now...Memories will always be with me about my first dog. He was sweet and loving. His lived a happy life and hopefully he didn't suffer in the end. Right now I can just imagine him playing poker with my cousin's dog, Rex. Popeye had made me laugh more, cry more, and thankfully made me love things a lot more. He also inspired me for my future career. That would be to become a pet trainer. And if that doesn't work, I will work in animal adoption centers. Popeye had taught me a lot, and I loved him for that reason. I don't see him as a dog ever in my life...I saw him as a family member...My brother, my grandpa. If I could say one last thing I would thank him for just being there. POPEYE I LOVE YOU TO THE FULLEST! Nine years of happiness in my life...once again...Thank you Popeye...thank you.

Forever in Rebecca Chan's memory. Nov 1, 1998 - June 7, 2007