Singher, Otherwise Known As The Insane Canine
Adopted in September 2000 by myself and my late partner David, Singher (pronunciation think fringe) was almost a year old, and had been found in an abandoned crack house, starving and severely underweight, her dead puppies lying beneath her. She had been at the shelter for a month when she found her forever home with us. And even though her nickname became The Insane Canine because of her penchant for attempting, and I stress attempting, to climb trees, and for her fear of cats, taking a chance on her was the best decision we ever made.
Fourteen years with a dog provides for a lot of water under the bridge. Just a few of the life events Singher was by my side for included the unexpected death of my partner, a return to grad school, two jobs, three apartments, and the death of my mother. Making a decision to end her suffering from severe hip disease in the summer of 2014 was the hardest decision I ever had to make. I miss that sweet dog everyday.
On my writing desk next to a pale
grey soap stone carving it sits,
a small wooden box with a glass front.
Inside, the paw print of a dog has
been engraved into cedar.
The comfort it provides, a small one.
But it’s through proximity I am brought
to random thoughts of a man and his dog,
best friends for a time, each the others
world complete.
A brief, yet tender refuge of special
in a harsh, lonely world.
Singher
2000 ~ 2014
Allan Rae is a former flight paramedic, utilizing both his medical and creative writing backgrounds as a qualitative health researcher examining HIV stigma through community and personal narratives. He is the editorial director of C(G) and the photo publication SNAPSHOTS. Satire, Starbucks, and stray dogs do not displease him. He shares his home in Canada with his partner David and their dog Mr. Moles.
