Muffin Miller is in Doggy Heaven.

Muffin Miller

Age 13, March 12, 1997 - July 16, 2010

The most Tender, Loving soul we knew. You may be gone, but you will NEVER be forgotten!

Nickname: Muff Master Flash, Muffin Top, Mufiinator, & on &

Muffin was a rescue from a Humane Society in Florida. She was 4 years old when I got her and already knew the basics: How to ask to go outside, shake with both paws, sit and stay. She was a wonderful dog from the start, and no one knew her story. All they knew was that she was at the shelter for 2 years before I rescued her. She was vivacious, playful, she ran in circles when she got really excited and she would wag her tail like a propeller when she was happy as all can be. That tail of hers was her trademark. She never stopped wagging her tail no matter what. Vet visits, or just saying her name would incite propeller tail. She lived with me and my then boyfriend and when we broke up 2 years after, she stayed with him because I was unable to take her to my parents already crowded house. I would always check with my ex to see how she and our other dog was doing. One night I had a dream that they were in a backyard staring at me, saying they needed help. So I woke up with a start and I immediately text messaged my ex, who broke the bad news. It'd been 2+ years later that he had moved out of our old apartment and had left her and our other dog at his dad's. When I discovered the living conditions, I was very upset. He rarely went to see them and they were in a backyard for 2+ years rain, sun, cold, with only someone coming to feed them every now and again. I was and still am residing in New Hampshire, so I made arrangements with my ex's dad and my mom to get them up here as quick as possible. Muffin is the only one I got because I am told our other dog escaped the back yard and was never found. Regardless, my goal was to give Muffin the best life she could imagine after all she had been through. At this point she was 10 years old, so I knew I needed to make the best of the time we had left together.

Here are some things about my very best dog ever, Muffin:

Muffin liked chasing skunks, she would chase no other animals. She was a very good sniffer and sniffed ev-er-y-th-i-ng. Investigating new surrounding was her favorite pastime and she would get lost in it, to the point she would not come if you called her, but always returned when she was finished making sure everything was okay. She, as a result was very independent. She was a devout foodie. Most of all she loved and cared for her humans unconditionally, anywhere we would be going she had to come.

If we were outside walking at night and a skunk was near she would become aggressive and want to go for it. Aggressive was not in her nature, she was a dominant female though. She was in charge in a group of dogs. She just had that calm submissive type of behavior. Except for when it came to skunks. A couple times we had made the fatal error of taking her outside without her leash on at night. She was sprayed 2 times in 2 weeks. Never again did we do this at night.

Muffin loved sniffing everything. She would get lost in it. Years and years she just sniffed and sniffed and sniffed. Deep whiffs of sniffs. One day her nose became stuffy and runny. We took her to the vet who thought she might have something lodged in there. After x-rays were taken we found she didn't. We thought the runny nose would go away, but it got worse and worse. The runny nose was a result if cancer. Our girl was eventually unable to use her sniffer, one of her biggest joys in life, due to the growing then subsiding tumor that had taken over her nasal passage, and eventually her left eye.

Investigator would have been her very best profession. If there was something new to see in a different surrounding, she would sniff every inch until she knew it was safe. She would wag her tail uncontrollably with excitement and tune out the rest of the world for that moment. Calling her name to get her to come (all though she knew it very well) was futile. She needed to sniff and investigate until she knew her job was done.

One of my favorite parts of her personality is her independence. She had a mind of her own. Sure, she was very smart and she knew it. She knew tricks like, come, stay, shake with both paws, sit, lay down, rollover, walk in a circle, then the other way, and before she got really sick we were perfecting "go say hello". She knew when she liked or didn't like something, but she trusted us. She would never ever snap or bite at us when we struggled to feed her medicines the doctor prescribed even though she hated taking them passionately. She knew if we put it in her food and would somehow eat around it or spit it right out. She would then not eat whatever type of food in the future because she knew there might be medicine it. We had to become very creative at masking it. If she didn't like something or want to do it, she wouldn't. Even if she knew and we knew she knew how.

Muffin loved food. Especially good human food. If you were in the kitchen, she was in the kitchen. Staring at you excitedly. If you looked at her, her tail would get all propeller like. It was very charming. Although we did not give her human food often, except holidays, she would still come and sit in the kitchen. She knew her boundaries in the kitchen. Because she just loved being in there and didn't want to get kicked out. She also owned a discerning palate for dog food. She only ate certified organic and natural dog foods. We tried cheaper foods but she wouldn't touch them, we eventually figured out that she didn't like the quality of the food we were giving. There were times that we would make her ground beef or turkey and mix it with her dry food because we didn't have her kind of food, and we understood her snobbery towards those foods. She was no fool when it came to this. She knew what good food was, and what was just plain junk.

Her love for us was unconditional and unabashing. There were times we'd be staying at a friend or family members house and dogs were not allowed in certain areas at certain times (mainly during meal times). Dogs would be behind a kiddie gate staring at their humans waiting for the moment they could come back out, not knowing how to get out. Muffin would always figure out how to move the gate so that they could all break free. Muffin's main mission was simply to be near us. If we would leave her at a friend or family members house for a few days or hours to be watched she would obsessively check all of the windows and doors in the place to see if we were back yet until we came back. She never barked though. One thing we and other people noticed about her is that she was a quiet girl who never barked, unless absolutely necessary, which was very rare. Even on her final day with us. She trusted us and never wanted us to part. We did not want to part with our sweet Muffin either.