Meg left an impression on me. Literally.
I hadn’t been working at my dog daycare job too long when I
first met Meg, a small-ish white Pit Bull whom I would soon find out had been
rescued after a lengthy attempt of rescuing. She was scared and I hadn’t been around
long enough to see some of the signs and when I reached out to pet her, I
averted my eyes to whom I was speaking, and Meg bit my right thumb.
It was my first dog bite.
Dog bites don’t happen all that much at dog daycares,
especially if you’re paying attention to what you’re doing. Almost all of them
happen when a dog is scared. In the seven years, I’ve been on the job I can
probably count the times my skin has been broken by a dog’s bite on one hand.
You don’t want to be bitten by a dog. But my first dog bite
feels looking back on it like it was an initiation. Meg immediately felt sorry
for biting me – you can tell by looking at a dog when they’re sorry. I felt
worse for scaring her than I did for the pain emanating from my thumb, which
was bleeding rather decently. Dog bites hurt worse the next day when the bruising
has set in, especially if it’s on a bone.
I have a photo from March 8, 2016, of Meg sitting on my lap,
with my arm around her side. The Facebook caption I posted reads: “Meg took a
bite out of my thumb last week and today is my lap dog.”
I had been branded.
Meg was special. She was sassy and selective. It could take
a while for her to allow people into her space. I got the brand, so I didn’t
have to wait. Over the years she would welcome many others into her space. We
ended up truly being Meg’s Fan Club. Thankfully they got the easier initiation.
When you were with Meg she made it feel like you were hers
and she was yours. The only dogs I have more photos of than Meg are my own.
Meg left us last week after a short illness. I got to see
her one last time, though I didn’t realize at the time it would be the last,
one week ago today. The other board members of her fan club were there too. I
kissed her on her snout and said goodbye – just in case.
You don’t want to be bitten by a dog, but I’m happy Meg left
her mark on me. I’ll never be able to forget her. All I have to do is look at
my thumb, and she is in my memories.
