Black Ribbon: Sascha

I am sad to report the passing of my little Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, Sascha, a constant companion of my Malamute boys.

I was there at Sascha's birth, adopted her when she was a scrawny little thing, and then had to figure out what to do with that there dog -- I had only had cats all my life and was a staunch cat person. Sascha grew up amongst cats and was a bit of a cat herself. When she started to grow and get bigger and stronger, I had no idea what to do with her, but a friend told me about obedience classes. She had to suffer through my first shot at obedience training. Traumatic for us both! But we kept at it, and progressed to agility obedience.

Sascha was bitten by a pit when young and had a scar on her butt all her life. It made her somewhat skittish toward strange dogs, but she warmed up to them very quickly, and adored "her" Malamute boys. When I first adopted Allie, she and Sascha were inseparable. When Ghost came along several years later, however, the group dynamics changed, and suddenly the girls developed a mutual desire to see the color of each others' insides. Since then, the girls have been kept apart, and Sascha has enjoyed the company of each boy in turn. In the past few months, as Allie has gotten weaker, she and Sascha have come to an understanding, and they have been outside together again, companionable as a couple of old ladies.

We enjoyed our walks together, which included lots of sit-down-stands and treats. Her down-stay always included a Navy-Seals-crawl, accompanied by a wide grin and mischievous brown eyes. Her idea of "fetch" was to grab the ball and try to play keep-away with it, zooming around me in circles and trying to get me to chase her. She played the Malamutes' reindeer games just like a Mal, grabbing them by the scruff, chest-bumping, and joining in the singing when the sirens went by.

Sascha was my first dog, a sweet, gentle lion dog, who taught me that dogs are wonderful people to have around. We will all miss her.