My First Dog Pepper
Today is a day I should have been celebrating each year but I never did (hopefully it’s never too late to start). It’s the birthday of my very first dog Pepper who was with me for 15 years from my university to early career years. This was before the digital age so I never got a lot of photos or video of him.
Pepper was extremely important in my life because he’s the first one who taught me about unconditional love and responsibility. Although he had a comfortable life, I was an inexperienced pet owner so Pepper never had the fuller life that my Chester & Roxie had with fun nature trails and dog friends. As a result, I don’t have as many memories of Pepper as I do with Chester & Roxie.
Also because of my inexperience, I didn’t understand the pain Pepper was having during his final days. This will become the first big regret I have in my life. I don’t have many regrets but the ones I do always seem to be around what I did or didn’t do for my dogs during their final stages of life.
Out of all four of my Lhasa Apso dogs, Pepper was perhaps the most mild mannered and for the lack of a better word, regal. But since he didn’t have the type of dog life that he deserved, I hope that Chester & Roxie found him and are showing him the fun afterlife that all dogs should have.
So today much like what I did for Chester & Roxie’s birthdays two weeks ago, I will go somewhere peaceful to spend some time just to think about Pepper since he was my first and vow to never forget him and what he taught me.
