(About the time that “Pookie” was born,
that’s what we called her, Nancy and I watched the movie musical “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” with Dick Van Dyke. In the movie the female protagonist was called “Truly Scrumptious” the daughter of a candy manufacturer. One of the most memorable songs in the musical who was, “Truly Scrumptious” a sweet song that two young children, who loved the candy makers daughter, sang to her in hopes of her marrying their available father. This endearing song meant so much to us that we decided to name our beautiful puppy after the song and character. This tiny black and tan bundle of love was everything the song expressed from our hearts. She was indeed, “Truly Scrumptious”! As she grew and became a young adolescent, we felt she was destine to be a show dog. She was everything the breed standard required in a puppy. Some of you who live in Southern California might have seen her in the match rings in the San Gabriel Valley area. She was so very alert and ready to show! Her coat was solid dark blue and showed no signs of ever getting light. And boy, did it grow fast! She was
going to have a full, floor length coat at one year old! Her
gold was deep and true. Her conformation was wonderful and with
good front and rear extension and a great top line....She was on her
way.
Then the unspeakable happened. We didn’t notice at first, but
Pookie started letting her tongue hang out the front side of her
muzzle. Ever so slowly it became more and more noticeable.
Eventually she started dipping her head to the side. With in
days she was loosing her balance and falling to one side. The
prognosis: Pookie had an inoperable brain tumor that was quickly
destroying her motor functions.
With tears in our eyes, we knew what had to be done. The next
morning, a Saturday, Nancy bathed her and groomed her now weak
and unsteady body. Nancy wanted to have some pictures taken to
always remember her by. I remember Nancy wiping tears from her
eyes as she steadied Pookie as our daughter Karen took her final
pictures.
Nancy and I will always weep when we hear the song “Truly Scrumptious”
without fail. We went on to take the name Scrumptious as our
kennel name. It is with these tender feelings for Pookie and
her mother that we have always treasured each and every moment
with our band of lovely dogs.... we always have hope for the
future, but we are never guaranteed our tomorrows.