Princess the Beautiful

Princess was the third dog my family adopted and she was the last of our loving canine family. She was actually born in Israel and my sister adopted her first in the early 1980's. After her son was born, Princess was given to my parents and they took care of her for the rest of her life.

Princess was a pert, spunky little dog who had a lot of fight in her. One day, two huge German shepherds tried to attack her and she was going off half-cocked to fight them. Luckily, I was near her and picked her up. I shooed the dogs off and luckily they didn't attack me. Princess actually would have been more inclined to attack than they would.

It was apparent to my family that Princess must have been abused as a puppy. She had all kinds of nervous reactions. If you walked past her too quickly she'd go after your feet. She was what they call a fear biter - a dog who didn't attack out of viciousness but out of fear.

After several years of living with my family, Princess' state of mind was much better and she'd no longer lash out at someone. She really became a much better dog surrounded by our loving family.

Princess was very affectionate when she was in her normal state of mind. And the funny thing was that she and I had the same taste in Jewish music. I used to listen to the recordings of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach who was "The Father of Modern Jewish Music" and she used to sit near the speakers when I played his tapes or albums. It's hard to find a dog with the same taste in music as you.

Princess loved my maternal grandmother's cookies. When my grandmother used to eat them a lot of times she'd do so standing up and Princess would walk over to my grandmother to beg for the cookies. Princess would bounce up and down off her hind legs and my grandmother used to jump up and down making fun of Princess. It was a pretty funny sight watching both of them dancing and I used to get a kick out of it. I also used to like my grandmother's cookies. I had to fight Princess for them. No, I'm just kidding, we shared.

Princess was my stalwart companion. She saw me through several careers, a failed marriage and my difficulties in my job at AT&T. I really loved her and I even made her into a goddess. I made a Viking helmet for her that she wore proudly. I even have a tee shirt of her wearing her helmet and of me wearing my helmet with big horns.

My ex-wife used to lament that I loved the dog more than I loved her. Without getting into it, the dog and I had a longer relationship. My ex-wife used to say, "A boy and his dog..." It was true; canine love is of a different type and order than the type of love that humans, even husband and wife, have for each other.

One day, a fire destroyed my parent's apartment's second floor. My father managed to get himself, my Mom and Princess out of the apartment. They were relocated to another development as repairs were done on their old apartment. But the new apartment was on the second floor and Princess had to walk up a large flight of stairs every time she had to go for a walk. The end result was that she lost the power in her hind paws and she wasn't long for the world after that.

Back in 1992, I entered a bench press contest at the YMHA in Highland Park, NJ. The Thursday before the contest I benched 355 pounds and I was determined to do more than that at the show. My father called me up and asked me to baby sit Princess and I couldn't turn down an opportunity to be with my favorite living canine relative.

I came into my parent's apartment with my own supply of kosher steak and chicken in attempt to bulk up for the event. I told Princess as I walked in the door, "Forget about the dog food this weekend; it's steak and chicken for us!" My father called up scant seconds later and said, "Don't spoil the dog, just feed her the regular food and we don't want you messing her up," or words to that effect.

By the way, I did 370 lbs in the contest and as I won uncontested, I would have won no matter what I would have lifted. I tried to get a friend of mine to enter because he'd place second no matter what he'd lift but he turned it down.

Princess lived a long life; she lived to be 17 and a half years old. That was one year longer than even Duchess managed to hang on. And Princess still looked good up until the last six months of her life.

It really hurt watching my beloved canine relative's health deteriorate. I really loved her and I know she loved me too. But eventually, the end came and I visited her right before she was put to sleep. It was a sad end for a faithful friend. I really miss her and I

think about her all the time.

Princess is buried in the Bide - A - Wee cemetery on Wantagh, LI, NY and she's next to Duchess and Zeus. Princess was cremated and her remains were put in a box, which was buried, in the above-mentioned plot.

After she was cremated, her remains in the box were put in my parent's break front for a while and were in their apartment. One night at dinner, we were talking about her and all of a sudden, we could feel her presence. It was eerie.

Several years ago, two of my friends kept telling me that they were going to take me to LI to visit the dog's grave. They never did.

Finally, I got some money together and I went out to the Bide- a Wee on September 10^th of that year which was a Sunday and which corresponded with the date that Princess was put to sleep. Lo and behold, I got out of the train and I got a taxi and another person was going to Bide - A - Wee too. It turned out that there is a ceremony the second Sunday in September every year for the dogs. No joke, it was right on what we call the Yahrzeit in Yiddish for Princess' passing. My loving dog is not alone in being mourned at the same time every year.

Several years ago, I took a guitar out to the Bide - A - Wee ceremony. I put on a mini concert for an old, infirm dog named Queenie who was 15 years old. The dog finally got adopted but didn't live much longer.

I also took my guitar over to my dog's graveside and I sang and played two Hebrew songs by them. One song, Al eleh ani bochea ani yardeh mayim ki rachok memeni menachem mashiv nafshi, is a verse from Lamentations which means, "These are the ones for whom I cry and I'll never stop crying, because the ones who could restore my soul to me are not with me any more." I did this to mourn my dogs.

But I also sang a second song this time to commemorate and celebrate my family's having these loving family members in the first place. This Hebrew song is from the after meal prayers and it says, Yisborech shimcha b'fi kol chai, tamid leolam va'ed, which means, "G-d's name will be praised by every living creature always and forever."

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, my late friend and mentor, wrote the melodies to these verses and he loved dogs. He used to say that dogs don't have souls because they give their souls over completely to their masters. But in my family, we never pulled rank on the dogs. Princess was my niece while Duchess and Zeus were my loving siblings.

I have missed the last two years of ceremonies for the dogs on LI in Bide - A - Wee's burial plots. Next year, I hope to get out there and pay my respects like I have in the past.