I picked up our long-haired chihuahua from the airport on a spring day in 2006. I had found him online and fallen for him. Poquito Ricardo (“Little Richard”)—jokingly named after our friend Richard, who made fun of the dog’s size (“He’s a rat dog!”)—flew in from North Carolina. I quickly learned how tough he was. He never cried. He wasn’t afraid of going for walks on our dangerous, winding road. And he stole the role of alpha dog from his big brother, a King Charles spaniel. There was no question: Poquito was in charge.
When he suffered kidney failure and pancreatitis at 14 years old, Poquito never showed he was in pain. Despite his strength, he passed away in November 2019. I was heartbroken. I commissioned a watercolor painting of him as an angel and framed it for Richard for Christmas. I also had a few mugs made and a sculpture of him in a rat suit. Richard even wrote a poem in Poquito’s memory. This part resonates with me:
And when their life eventually 
comes to an end
We feel something is missing
As losing a friend.
So what can we learn
From this unselfish soul?
Our road to happiness
Is making other people whole.
Poquito was my treasure. There will always be a heaviness in my heart when I think of him, but his smiling face on my mug reminds me how loving another creature can make you whole.
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