My Dog Chaser – by Javier Elizondo

I must have been in the seventh or eighth grade when I brought home this happy little brown puppy with a black mouth and nose, and a black little tail.  Here’s the story on how I found him.

It was a beautiful summer day, we had no school that day from a holiday that I don’t remember.  My friends and I, (Kike, Poldi, Ramon, Meme, Julian, Little Javier [who was called that since I was the older Javier]), were all coming back home from a day on the Rio Grande River area. 

When we didn’t have school, we used to all go down to the river almost every day, taking all our ¨weapons¨, which in those days, meant BB Guns and Sling Shots. We would hunt along the way for lizards, doves, rabbits, crows, and pretty much anything that moved along the way. 

This particular day on the way back, we passed this old house that had lots of pets around the yard, including dogs, cats, chickens, and even a parrot!

That day, a female dog was lying down and feeding about six or seven of her puppies.  Suddenly, one of the puppies ran over to me, so happy it seemed, moving its little tail and licking my boots.  I bent down and patted him gently and he started whining and making funny noises, happily wiggling his little body and tail close to me.

¨Hey Man¨, one of my friends said, ¨He likes you!¨ Yeah, I guess so, I muttered, all the while carrying him back to his Mom, and walking away.  

Well, the little pup followed me, and again, I took him back to his Mom, but this time we all hurriedly ran away back on our way.

The guys looked back and hollered, ¨Hey Javier, he is still coming.  He is chasing us.

¨What about his mother? I thought to myself.  She doesn’t seem to care.  She’s too old and skinny, I kept rationalizing to myself, and maybe she thinks her little puppy has a better chance with me, possibly?

The little puppy chased us all the way back to our neighborhood.  He kept licking my my boots and would jump into my arms when I would sit down.

Finally after chasing me all the way home, I decided to keep him and named him “Chaser”.

Well, my dog “Chaser” and my friends all grew up together.  He would follow us everywhere! He would chase jackrabbits until he would catch them.  He would chase everything, including other dogs.  He grew to be a strong and tough fighter, and he could beat other older or bigger dogs.  

The years came and went with him at my side, and I loved him.

Now my memory takes me down a dark path to that early Saturday morning, still dawn, when I heard my dear Mom tell my brother, Hector, “We must bury him next door on Mama Goya’s backyard before Javier wakes up”.  

I still remember how I buried my face in my pillow and cried.  

I remember how all my neighborhood friends loved Chaser, as one of us!  I decided back then, that I would never have another dog.

 

Javier Elizondo, Sr., 03/13/2022

 

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