Casper is in Doggy Heaven.

Casper

Age 9, June 18, 2002 - April 13, 2012

Casper was a true friend always providing me with companionship and support. I will greatly miss him

If there is one thing I loved most about Casper, it was his sweet disposition and complete lack of meanness. Every new person, dog or other animal he met was a potential friend and he always eager to go over an introduce himself. If they acknowleged him in any way, they became his friend. If they ignored his overtures of friendship, he would just make more attempts at befriending them. And if they snapped or growled at him, he would immediately back off until they realized what a nice little guy he was. In the end, using his charm and persistence, he was able to make a lot of great friends.

At the time he came to live with me, I already lived with a 1 year old guinea pig. Of course, I was concerned about the two of them getting along. Well, I didn't have to worry one bit. From their very first meeting, it was clear that Casper had developed an instant fondness for my guinea pig. They spent almost every minute of the day together, with Casper good-naturedly putting up with her antics (i.e. following him around, stealing biscuits right out of his mouth, squeaking at him while he tried to sleep, etc.) I remember amusedly watching him as he tried to retrieve one of his cookies which she had in her mouth. Not knowing what else to do, he started bopping her on the head with his paw. She sat there and waited until he finished, then proceeded to walk off with the cookie still in her mouth. Poor Casper!

Casper was always full of pleasant surprises. I had always known he was pretty trustworthy, but I didn't realize how trustworthy until he escaped from the backyard. I had let him out in my backyard and he wouldn't come back in when I called him. I went outside to see where he was and immediately saw I had left the gate open! In a panic, I rushed over to close the gate (in case he was still in the yard) and quickly ran back into the house. I had to go out and look for him, but I didn't even know where to begin! Well, I opened the front door and there he was, sitting on the walkway, as if waiting for me. But, even more impressive, I could also leave a plate of my food within his reach all day and he wouldn't even touch it!

When he was younger, he was a bit fussy. Everytime he saw something that looked out of place (i.e. a garbage can left on the side of the road, a tricycle sitting on the front lawn, a wheelbarrow parked in a driveway) he would stop in his tracks and start growling. He also disliked lawn ornaments that were meant to look like animals. I guess for some reason he thought he lived in one of those snooty gated communities.

He would also get very concerned if he was with a group of people and some members of the group wandered off. He would anxiously look around for them and wouldn't relax until he knew where they were. And if I were the one trying to wander off (with him) he would refuse to move. I dubbed him "The Chaperone" because he always wanted everybody to stay together.

For all his apparent conscientiousness, he wasn't the most reliable guard dog, at least once someone made it past the front door. I remember one day a strange man (repairmen) came into the house. Casper immediately grabbed his chew stick off the living room floor and started hiding it in the sofa cushions. Meanwhile, all my stuff (computer, tv, jewelry) was sitting out in the open, just waiting to be hauled away. Actually, I guess he was a good guard dog, just only with his stuff.

Casper was also the perfect little host. Everytime I had guests stay with me, he would constantly check on them to see how they were doing. (Although I think his constantly checking on them every morning to see if they had woken up might have annoyed them a little). If we went out, he made sure everyone had gotten out of the house so nobody would accidentally get left behind. And once we got to our destination, he made sure everybody got out of the car so nobody would miss out on anything. He was so attentive to my guests that, even if he were drifting off to sleep, he would insist on sitting up with them.

Casper would get really embarassed when he had to wear his raincoat. He would hang his head in shame and, when I took him outside for his walk, he would run and hide behind anything he could-trees, corners of buildings, doorways, telephone poles, etc.

He also didn't have the best timing. When we would go on one of our outings, he would be jumping and running around the backseat of the car during the entire drive. Then, by the time we got to our destination, he had gotten himself so tired out, he could hardly walk. Of course, he would try to avoid walking as often as I could. When I would take him for a walk, after a couple of blocks, he would inevitably stop and lie down as if he were exhausted. Of course, he quickly regained his energy as soon as he saw something interesting he wanted to check out.