Mickey’s Legacy: Bringing Echo Home

Mickey on a walk at the Holding Resevoir

In August 2012 Chris’ beloved Mickey left this world for a better one where her strong legs could take her on epic squirrels chases, she could obliviously walk past grazing with no pain and a big golden smile on her face. I’d grown to love Mickey in the short time I knew her. She was sweet, gentle and loving, a big dog with fluffy light golden hair. People always stopped to comment on what a big golden “he” was on walks on Mt Helena. Mickey was 13 and a half and had been Chris’ best friend. Sleeping on his bed every night from a pup when he was 12 until he left for college, accompanying him on rambles up MacDonald Pass, and long walks around the holding reservoir with stops to dip her toes in the water. She was a smart girl who knew that when the phone call went out at 4:30, she’d better wait by the window, on the lookout for the pizza delivery guy at about 5:00pm. “Walk” was a word she knew and loved and she also learned that “W” was a code word for that lovely outing. She was Chris’ “sister”, a true member of the family I’d just started to become a part of. The McDonalds may not be overly affectionate or even "hugging people" but you can tell how caring they are by the way they love their pets.

Chris and I had talked about getting a dog. I’d longed to have a dog all through college, my Rosa, my 7^th birthday “present” (the one puppy of my dad’s dog Honey that I got to keep) had died my senior year of high school. I’ve always been a dog lover, cooing at every dog I saw on the street, trying to talk my mom into getting a new one. I just didn’t have the stability, or the living situation that would allow me to get one of my own. I met Chris my final year of college. I started thinking about getting a dog after college, but still felt like I didn’t have the permanence in my life to do it. I moved into a house in Missoula that I found on Craigslist and one of my new roommate’s had a dog and a cat, and that was almost like having my own dog! I moved again, this time in with my friends and they told me to get a dog! Their dog would love to have a friend. I regularly checked animal shelter websites and Chris told me to “go ahead, do it!” But something still held me back. The uncertainty of my future, the responsibility, the financial aspects of feeding and caring for a dog while not having a steady job. 

I got a new job and moved to Helena and continued to talk about how I wanted a dog. Chris and I moved in together and he said that I should get one, but he couldn’t have another lady in his life while Mickey still occupied all of his heart, a dog I’d get would be my dog and not “our” dog. We adopted an alley cat, or she adopted us and we may have subsequently stole her when we moved out of our drafty alley backyard studio apartment before winter set in. Faye is the best cat, she’s very dog like and she was definitely enough of a pet! Whenever we needed a dog fix, Mickey was just across town, and was always happy to go for a “W” on Mt Helena, leash never on, but carried briefly in her mouth and then dropped as she excitedly sniffed the next bush or stump. We took her on car rides, walks at the fairgrounds, to the holding reservoir, and even one time a swim in an attempt to check out what sort of dead animal was floating, way out, too far for an old dog who didn’t like to get her belly wet.

Mickey slowed down, and we continued to take her on walks, but at 13 and a half she passed on to the “great sniffies in the sky”.  Six months later, I began again looking at shelter websites. Looking for a golden retriever photo in with the pit bulls, cattle dogs, and lab mixes that filled the shelter. Mickey had won my heart over to the breed and although I love all dogs and wanted to get a rescue and do the right thing, Chris and I decided what we really wanted was another golden. I thought maybe we’d find one that we could rescue. I looked at breeder’s websites online who wanted $2000 for females and $1800 for males. We told his parents we were thinking about getting one and Lee had a coworker who knew someone who had an 8 month old puppy, and their adult dogs had just had another litter. We talked about getting the older one and then ultimately decided, what the hell, we’ll just go for a puppy. Our work schedule at the time would be perfect for getting and training a puppy. I worked 6am to roughly 3pm and Chris came in around noon and worked until 8 or 9pm or later depending on the mine schedule. We had one day off a week together and at the maximum the puppy would be home alone for 2 or 3 hours. The life of the job was uncertain, but we decided, what the hell, let’s go for it! If we don’t do it now, when will we do it? We may not see each other enough, but we could use our opposite schedules to our puppy raising advantage! So I got a phone number and made a call. We went by to meet the female puppies. They’d be old enough to leave their mom in ten days. We spent at least an hour holding and petting puppies. One with a teal collar crawled into Chris’ lap and fell asleep and his heart melted. I was indecisive. I was loving every puppy kiss that came with the, oh so sweet, smell of puppy breath, but suddenly doubt filled my mind. Were we really ready to take this step? Our lives would be committed to this dog for (hopefully) the next 12-14 years. What if we were to break up? Who would get the dog, who would get the cat? Would we share custody like divorced parents? I looked at the puppy Chris had fallen in love with, I noticed her shaky back legs and skinny hind end and wondered if she would have hip problems in the future. Should we choose a different puppy? The redheaded girl with the black collar crawling up the baby gate?  One of the two fluffy light ones asleep on top of each other? I swallowed my doubts and agreed to the strawberry blond teal girl who climbed onto Chris’ lap and into his heart. I was certain we didn’t want the black collared escape artist, we wanted some spunk, but not that much!

Echo's first night at home

On the drive home, I still had doubts, I was kind of upset because of my uncertainty. I snapped at Chris. But then I got used to the idea, I figured it would all work out like it was supposed to. Ten days was going to be torture! We bought baby gates and food dishes, a tiny pink harness, Lee brought by a bag of Mickey’s things, a puppy collar and two larger harnesses, a brush and toe nail clippers. We wrote down possible names in a notebook. I liked Penny, Chris thought it was alright, the best of the list so far, then a day or two later he came up with Echo. I thought it was a silly name. People will call her Echo the gecko! We remained at an impasse. We daydreamed about the future! Taking her backpacking, walks in the scratch gravels, long runs when she was old enough! Finally it was Tuesday, March 5^th, the puppies were 7 ½ weeks old and could go to their new homes! I raced home from work, I dropped off my lunch box, didn’t bother to change and drove to Lee and Glen’s. They gave me a bag of newspapers, some old fleece blankets and a stuffed Shamu puppet probably from the mid 90’s. I drove to pick our puppy up. I held her and she fell asleep in my arms. I talked to the owners for an interminable amount of time. They were the type of people you couldn’t end a conversation with. When I told them we were undecided on a name they suggested Gem because Chris and I are both geologists and I said “maybe” and eventually left the house. Little “Penny” as I was calling her in my mind crawled onto my lap and slept on the drive home. As I was pulling onto our street she vomited and I managed to toss her onto the towel in the passenger seat as soggy puppy chow erupted from her mouth. My first puppy mess to clean up! The previous owners were smokers and she smelled like stale cigarette smoke. I gave her a bath and she shivered on my lap in a nest of towels in front of the gas stove. She walked around the kitchen on shaky legs. We snuggled on the couch, waiting, waiting for Chris to come home from work to meet “Penny”! He got home and greeted his sweet “Echo”, holding her against his shoulder. She was so tiny! I thought we were naming her Penny?!? I’ve been calling her Penny in my head! No we’re naming her Echo! A coin was tossed, “Penny” lost, and Echo she became! 

Chris holding Echo

They told me I was supposed to sleep in a box, but that turned into on my mom’s chest with a few pitiful cries.

I was born into this world with only the fur on my back...  And a love of rocks.
My name is Echo, and this is my story.