To Twinkle, with love

Twinkle was born on Valentine’s Day and was my sweetheart of a dog.  Sugarwings was just big enough to grab her and giggle when the pup came to live with us, and from the very beginning, that little dog never complained about how rough she might be treated.  She kept running back for more, more, more.

 Tinks was the perfect pet for a rough housing kid.  She might have seemed fragile, since she was a Yorkie, but that dog was one tough chick.  She was always there just waiting to be included in any game her girl wanted to play with her.  

They could spend hours together splashing in the water hose or digging in the mud together.

As babies, they shared toys, beds, and as Sugarwings would insist, no matter how hard I tried to keep the milk away from the dog, the little girl shared her bottle with the little dog.

Twinkle was devoted to us all, and one of her favorite words was ‘work’ which she knew meant we were going to to studio together, where she’d climb into this bowl of lace I kept on the floor.  Since she decided it was hers, not mine, I changed out the art supplies for a pillow and let her keep it.

She raised her children to love napping in the bowl too.  

And she had a lot of children!  

She was a great doggie mom.  She was meticulous in caring for her babies, still holding 8 year old Dorothy down to give her a good cleaning every evening, up until poor Twinks wasn’t healthy enough to be the caretaker.

She was a dog who lived to love, and was devoted to us all.  She was curious and excited about life, up for any adventure even if it was just a trip to the laundry room to check on the load of clothes in the dryer. 

And she loved to pose.  When she’d see my camera in my hand, she didn’t consider that I might be wanting a photo of a project or something to list in my shop.  She KNEW that the picture had to be of her.  I sometimes had to pretend to take one of her, so she would relax.

The only thing she didn’t like was Honey.  You can tell by the way she refuses to look at the camera, that she wasn’t too happy about us getting a new puppy.  Twinkle thought that she was one of our kids, since she was raised with the grand fairy, and didn’t think we needed to get a dog.

There were some battles for a couple of years between the two. But by the time Honey had her own puppies, they’d reached a truce.  Twinkle was allowed to wash those puppies and nanny them.

Honey must’ve appreciated the vast experience that Tinks had to offer.

But it wasn’t until the last couple of years that they actually became friends.  Twinkle had gone blind and discovered that Honey’s thick tail made an ideal bed.  

The first time she waddled over to it and laid down Honey seemed shocked.

 Then snuggled up to her.  

Since then, the truce was done and they became family.

Over the years, one of her favorite things was going boating.

The words ‘boat’ or ‘“lake’ would send her running to the car, ready for a day on the water.

Twinkle was more than just a dog to me, she was my friend.  
And a very good friend, not just to me.