In Loving Memorial to Cookie Monster

Our little baby Cookie Monster is in Heaven now: January 15, 2008 - June 30, 2008

It's been 11 days and I wanted some amount of time to pass before I brought to light this very sad and tragic story. I will add it to my comedy blog, not because there is a shred of humor to it, but because our sweetest little angel-girl did not deserve what happened to her, and if telling her story on every sort of blog possible can help bring awareness to this type of behavior (animal cruelty) then I will have no problems posting the story everywhere I possibly can.

DISCLAIMER: The following story deals directly with the tragic kidnapping and torture of this unbelievably precious animal you see above as well as a little kitten we barely knew. Do not read this story if you are unable to realize the gravity of its content.

Cookie was born January 15, 2008 to one of my daughter's friend's mother's dogs. Just like Faith was born to Reuben's friend's mother's dog, Cookie was also born to a household where the owners were friends of ours. Unlike our precious Faith, Cookie's beginnings were tranquil, full of joy, and everyone in the household was jealous to see her leave and live with us because she was so beautiful, so much fun, and full of so much love. Faith had been born to a family whose dog was not a pet, but a working dog, therefore her offspring (Faith and siblings) were not really cared for in house or given the tender loving time it took to safely and securely wean the puppies from their mother. We waited and we waited for the requisite six-week period to pass, and believe me, the owners of the mother dog would certainly have kept our Cookie for themselves if they hadn't already been taking care of so many other sweet and adorable Dachshunds. Cookie is still (because we choose to remember her the way she was when she was in our arms) the most gorgeous yellow spotted piebald Dachshund I have ever seen. So unique and not just in her markings. She was Dachshund to the end - taking on the world with her big padded feet, those flopping ears that little fuzzy yellow face that she liked to tilt to the side with one ear flying high in the air like a radar!

Cookie was Caity's constant little darling. She slept with her of course, but she also went shopping with her in those little doggie purses. Caity took her to the mall, took her to the park, took her to eat with her - she was her baby. You've seen bonding like this before, and you probably think "Wow, that dog is so spoiled" well, yes, Cookie was beyond spoiled - she was ultra spoiled and loving every single glorious minute of life from the minute she woke up to the last sigh she would give out just before settling into Caity's squeeze at night.

Sometime last month when I was in Spokane, Washington on a business trip with Faith, Caity had gotten herself and a couple of her friends into a bit of trouble; they were caught trespassing on an apartment complex with a 24 hour pool and spa, but they didn't live there. The police was loathe to write them up, but it was his job to do so. The only one over the age of 18 was a guy who will remain anonymous for he is the culprit of not only the trespass incident to begin with, he is the murderer of our little dog as well. To give you his name publicly would certainly seal his fate and I will have nothing to do with that - I will let God have His personal vengeance and wipe my hands of this monster forever.

When my mother picked Caity up from the juvenile center because I was more than 1500 miles away, Caity had mentioned that she needed to stop hanging out with this character because time after time he only brought bad luck to the group she hung out with. This "person" brought beer to parties, he brought drugs, he wanted the girls to go skinny dipping, he wanted them to do things that they knew was both illegal and not the least bit moral - and YOU KNOW he always checked my blog and website to see when I would be gone because my daughter would be home alone. To be honest this was at a time she was living on her own having taken over her sister's apartment before the lease ran out and she was to move back in with me. It worked out great for this guy that I traveled and my daughter was a bit of a partier - she got more than she bargained for.

When Caity refused his sexual advances this man gave her a poisoned drink. The effects weren't as strong as he had perhaps wanted and she was none the wiser because nothing happened and she was fully capable of pushing him out the door. The next time he visited he introduced her to a couple of grams of 'shrooms' and lied to her about their effect. When she became aware of the trip she was about to take she immediately picked up the phone and tattled on herself to her older sister, who called me in Spokane (same business trip) and I couldn't help her then anymore than I could a couple of days before - this guy would not leave her alone! When she and I managed to convince him to leave, and the counselor from our church made her way over to my apartment to babysit my daughter this man went right back to Caity's apartment and literally killed her little kitten that she had for less than 2 weeks. the kitty's name was Gideon, and due to the nature in which he killed her I will not describe it. I will tell you this; it was very violent, and he somehow convinced Caity through texting her that she had committed the crime herself.

To be sure Caity as a moral kid was quite upset with herself and with what she had allowed to happen not only to her own body, but to her little cat. She couldn't understand any of it. One of our friends buried the kitten and placed a little cross over her grave in the garden. Upon my return I took the kitten to the vet and was told exactly how she was killed. Caity would have had deep embedded claw marks all over her if she had done the crime - she did not. The police were certain they knew who it was and the fact that he wore hoodies in the summer allowed for more than protecting himself from breezes - this man was no stranger to killing smaller animals with claws. Even with the hoodie there were marks and he was found out, but without evidence of the actual crime he was not arrested at that time.

One month later our Cookie fell prey to this beast herself and the means and method of which she was killed will be disclosed and I will talk about it because I was more or less capable of preventing it and I didn't realize it until it was too late. On the afternoon of June 28, 2008 my daughter had given Cookie her weekly bath, something she did just to beautify our little girl. She was shaking and was a bit cool from the A/C so Caity put her out in the backyard, on the patio with the gate closed in order to dry off. When Caity went to the mall we thought nothing, not one thing of Cookie being left out on the patio by herself, she had been there a number of times, but this time there was a killer waiting for Caity to leave and for me to busy myself about the house. Looking into the house through the patio sliding doors couldn't have been hard to do, the blinds were left open so I could see Cookie. I heard the familiar squeaking of my gate as it was being opened, but didn't see anyone and from my point of view the gate was closed again, as if someone thought of coming in but didn't. I didn't think of Cookie getting out or being let out because in all the time we had her she simply would not run away. Why would she? She knew exactly what benefits remained with the family she lived with.

About an hour later I had decided to bring the other dogs out to play with Cookie but couldn't find her. I frantically called for her, went throughout the neighborhood and complex looking of course, and had incorporated the help of every neighbor possible. Everyone in this complex and commons absolutely adored Cookie, they wanted her for themselves, but they realized that they could visit any time they wished, and she was so very much in love with Caity - they loved both of them together just the way they were.

When another hour and another hour passed it was apparent to us that someone had actually taken her from my backyard - a feat that yes, could have been done by someone who didn't live in the complex that had seen her and wanted her, and this was our hope because to think of one minute that the man we hated with our deepest passion could have our dog would have bee impossible to imagine. We knew what he was capable of. Then the emails came, and the texts.

He never came out right and said he had her, but he alluded to it. He never came out right and said he had killed her, but it was implied. We put out signs, we continued to look for her, we took the cellphones and the e-mails to the police and filed a report just in case they could do something at this point. We at least had him for harassment and because he swore up and down we have him on FCC regulations as well - but we knew in our hearts what he was actually probably doing to little Cookie. The weekend passed - our church prayed not only for Caity, but for the soul salvation of this man. Some people are just simply the Devil's toys - he is one of these people. I do not believe he will ever have another chance to change before he dies.

Monday morning, after having scoured the local streets we were told that Cookie's lifeless body was found over on an access road just 1 block from our house. We had searched it over and over and she had never been there before - suddenly she was found dead on the road? No, she was found dead in the very very middle of it...where she would be sure to be hit by oncoming traffic - however, we took notice that her face and body structure indicated that she had been strangled, not hit by a car - she was in rigor and this meant that she had been killed about 4-8 hours prior to our discovery of her body. Her collar had been removed. People who hit dogs with their cars don't stop and take collars off of them - this was all the cops needed to file an animal cruelty charge - and a search warrant for the collar.

I wouldn't let Caity look at Cookie, but she insisted on doing so. I wanted to protect my little girl, but she was hell-bent on seeing the twisted and tortured face of her beloved at least once so that she could know that this man was to be held accountable for the worst infraction of my daughter's young 17+ years. This was the one thing that would change my daughter's path from being somewhat liberal to a new state of personal awareness, cautious, and now forever changed by what some people are capable of being. It was the first time she had ever verbally damned someone to a living breathing Hell that she hoped he would meet soon. This is something no one should have to encounter, and especially at the age of 17. When your life seems so new and so fresh, it should never be that you see or experience such a great loss as to lose the love of your life - even if it wasn't a spouse, a mother, or a brother, sister, or friend - it was a soul mate nevertheless. Cookie was forever gone.

When Animal Control picked her up the traffic had been so cruel to her, there was absolutely no way I would have allowed Caity near us at that time. She was literally held at home and forbidden to come with me. I have never had to stand beside a curb awaiting my pet to be returned to me in a black, plastic bag, tied off at the top with a knot. I will never forget my heart's weight, or the heaving my chest felt the second I saw the bag drop a bit and the control officer reach down to pick up the fragmented bones of my little dog's jaw which had been severed by oncoming traffic - this could not be Cookie - she was already in the arms of a loving God, in the hands of the children who wait up in Heaven to receive all animals who lose their lives unexpectedly, as I believe there is another set of angels who await on those whose deaths are accompanied by loved ones and prayers. Just before I took the bag from the officer I turned to hug her for her generous help - and I told her as best I could through my tears "Thank you, her name was Cookie". I can't forget what she then said - through her own warm tears she wiped her eyes with the back of her arm (her hand gloved for protection) and she said "I never get to know that sort of thing. I just have to pray for their families. Thank you. I'll not forget little Cookie I promise."

We took our baby dog to my father's ranch. I don't know why I would call it my father's since my mother lives there as well, but when we have such a grave responsibility as we had that morning it only seems fitting to say we took her to my dad's to be buried on the acreage where for years our other loved animals (and those we simply find on the land; rabbits, beavers, birds, turtles) have been laid to rest. A prayer was enough, and a sweet farewell bidding yes, but there will be more to this memorial for our puppy - there will be much more.

Caity and I have decided to bless our dog with a 50-60 page book which won't go into as much gross detail as I have here in this blog - it will be written for children to understand the need for being responsible and diligent with pets. It will touch on the fact that there are those bent on hurting us, and that they often use our animals to get to our souls, or to our hearts. The book will be titled "My name is Cookie" I believe a fitting tribute is due to such a love as ours.