Beloved Tikki

Children Dealing with the Loss of a Beloved Pet

Chapter I: Tikki

Tikki, the Long-Haired Chihuahua! Tikki is a long-haired Chihuahua who loves to run in the yard.  Her favorite thing to do is watch TV with her favorite humans, Tanailly and Randy.

Today is an especially good day, Tikki is getting her first dip in the pool.  She loves to ride the filters inside the pool.  She is only six inches tall.  Tikki loves to eat crunchy foods, such as pork cracklings and chips.  It is a party outside and she is grunting like a piggy while she tries to steal from under the tables.

Tikki came into our family by accident.  She was abandoned on the side of the road; someone noticed that she was not going away from the road and picked her up.  Our family got extremely lucky and blessed the day she came into our lives.  We wanted to rescue her, but instead, she rescued us.  She knew it too.  It was never hard to make her listen, she took care of the children by playing with them, sleeping on their beds, hiding inside their closets or under their beds.

One night, Tikki went missing.  No one could find Tikki, everyone was so worried that perhaps the falcons or maybe even an eagle could have taken her.  We searched outside, inside the cars, under the cars, under the house.  In the garage, the storage shed and even down the embankment of the property which had a very steep drop at the end of the yard with a 30 foot drop into the woods.  Everyone searched frantically, Tanailly and Randy were so sad that maybe someone had snatched her from our yard.  By now it’s around 8:00 pm, no one has had dinner because we have spent most of the afternoon looking frantically for Tikki.  Finally, everyone comes into the house to get ready for school the next day; taking showers, doing homework and trying to cope with the loss of their very favorite and special little friend.

As we prepared ourselves for bed, we sat down to watch the news before going to bed, when suddenly there was a little movement in between the cushions of the sofa.  The backrest of the sofa had very large pillows and she had become trapped between the pillows and the cushions of the sofa.  All that we could see were her face and front paws.  Of course we all busted laughing out loud, extremely happy that she had been found.  Also, because it was extremely funny that we had spent most of the day searching for her and she had been inside the house all along.  She did not bark, so when we called for her, there was no answer.  Tikki was black and tiny, and part of me believes she did not bark on purpose, on that day.  It was one of the most memorable experiences we had with Tikki.

Another time, we had gone to visit friends far from home.  While stopping for the night, we rented a hotel room.  Unbeknown to us, the hotel did not accept pets, and although she was tiny, we still had to disclose the fact that we had brought our doggie with us.  We went back to the counter to disclose our issue.  The clerk was a dog lover herself and she said, “Oh, it’s okay, and as long as no one else notices her, you will be fine.”  Our only choice at that point was to have Tikki climb into one of our valises and ride the elevator with her inside the valise.  We wanted to be extremely quiet because the clerk had said, “if anyone notices her or calls to complain that there is someone with dogs in the room, you’ll have to go.”  As we rode the elevator, Tikki was so quiet we thought she had asphyxiated inside the valise.

Before placing her inside the valise we had a conversation with her, told her to be extremely quiet and not to move.  Apparently, she listened and when we finally got off the elevator and opened the door to the room on the third floor; Tikki had a smile larger than her.  She was so happy she jumped out of the valise and ran all over the room inspecting everything within her reach.  We could not help but celebrate with her, all of her adventures.

Tanailly is an eight-year old little girl, full of energy and love for pets.  Tikki has quite a collection of dresses and shoes and collars.  Tikki sits next to Tanailly, waiting her turn to go outside and run.  Randy is a seven-year old little boy, also loves dogs, cats, frogs and any other critter that comes his way, including snakes; all, except spiders.   These eight legged creatures are the subject of his nightmares.

Tanailly and Randy can spend hours and hours playing with Tikki.  Tikki does not mind eating crackers, soup, milk and even marshmallows as long as she is tagging along with her favorite humans.

Tikki lived a long and happy life.  On her last day on earth, Tikki knew that it was going to be her last time seeing her humans.  She woke up early, went to the bathroom and came back in.  It was a weekday, and her humans were getting ready for school.

Tikki never made any noise, and today she was even quieter.  Her little head was tilted towards the ceiling and she could not move her little paws.  Her humans sat around her, cuddling her and telling her it was going to be okay.

Everyone in the home said their goodbyes.  Tikki waited until everyone in the family had had a chance to say something to her, and then suddenly, she closed her eyes.  It was a very quiet moment.

The children held hands and said a prayer for her.  Once they knew she was no longer breathing, their father opened a small hole in the ground and placed her, wrapped in her favorite blanket, and red christmas dress. The children dreamt of Tikki running freely on a meadow, chasing butterflies, and rabbits.

One night, Tanailly, woke up very happy because Tikki had been in her dreams that night.  They were all sitting on a blanket, at the park having a picnic.  Tanailly was so happy she made a canvas drawing with the details of that dream and experience with her beloved Tikki, having a picnic.

Randy, Tikki’s other human, did not have many dreams with Tikki.  However, one night, he asked me if it was okay to place a bowl of milk under his bed?  I asked him, what for?  He said, well Tikki, came to see me last night and she told me that she wanted milk and cookies.  So, I thought, sure, why not.  Well I knew that Tikki was not physically coming to visit, so I decided to put some milk in a bowl under Randy’s bed.  To my surprise, the bowl was empty.

So I asked Randy if Tikki had visited the previous night.  He busted out laughing and said, Oh silly mom, I drank the milk.  I was very hungry and drank the milk.  I knew Tikki would not mind sharing it with me.  Tikki at all.

What I learned from that day, is that no matter how silly it might sound, it is important to allow our children to deal with loss at their own pace.  However, they see fit, even if it feels silly or even scary.  I was freaking out when he told me that Tikki had visited the night before.  I thought, “Oh My God” evil spirits visiting my children!  I took all the energy I had not over-react to what he was saying to me.  I promised myself that no matter what I would believe my children and follow through no matter how scary it sounded to me.  To my relief, Randy thought I was silly for thinking that Tikki would actually come at night to see him, phew!

Through the years we have discussed Tikki on various occasions, Tanailly and Randy, always think of Tikki in a positive and happy way.  Spending time with her the last day she was alive was an amazing healing experience, because they got to say goodbye to her in a personal way.