The Tale of Our Boo

Warning:  If you knew our Amber, this will make you cry.  I'm finally ready to share my memories of her.  Finally.

Amber Lynn Svec                       9-12-99 – 11-8-2008

Lover of:

• Frisbees,
• Beer cans (preferably Keystone Light),
• Shadows (bird or hand),
• Dirty socks,

Yes, that is not a pair of dirty socks

• Tom’s fresh off the vine,
• Laser pointers (isn’t there one attached to every set of keys? And BTW, she knew your keys were in your pocket),
• Ice cubes,
• Fireplaces and camp fires (she loved to be next to the warmth),
• Flash lights (she knew where every one of them was located in the house),
• Water out of a garden hose,
• Swimming (off of a boat, from the shore, or into the pool),
• Snow, 

December 2005
Mission, KS

 

February 2008
The meadows, Lake Tahoe, NV

• Harmonica playing,
• And her daddy & her momma.  She loved us so much.

Fast Facts:

• Alpha to our Nellie and Roscoe; Beta to our Abbytail and Keystone. 
• She had short ears.
• She had a long nose that had a spot on the end which was more noticeable when her nose was pinker.  Her nose changed colors—pink to dark brown. 
• Graduate of puppy class, advanced puppy class, dog class, and advanced dog class.
• When she was a puppy, she had a sleek coat that was fluffy like all puppies.  She had a curl at the very end of her tail.  As she grew, the curl crept up her tail, along her back, and finally all the way to the top of her head.  She had been amazingly curly and we love the uniqueness it gave her.
• Her tongue was amazingly long.

Young Amber's looooong tongue

Fall 2006 on a road trip to PA

 

Amazing Stories:

She learned to roll over and let us rub her belly after she nursed her puppies for a month.  Her puppies had been scratching her up and we used Udder Balm to soothe her raw underside.  Prior to that, she would never roll over.

She stepped into a lily pad pond at a Victorian B&B in Wilmington, SC when we took her & Roscoe on a 2-week, cross-country, road trip vacation to see the ocean.

After wave crashing in the ocean with Daddy in October, 2002, Amber took in a lot of salt water. 

She nearly spewed directly on the hand of a nice lady who had graciously taken our family picture when she reached out to pet Amber. That was the first Ramada Inn we graced with our presence and what a great time we had.

Family picture (October 2002)
Front to back: Roscoe, Amber, Todd and obviously me on the right.
Taken by a surprised but gracious volunteer!

 

She was Boomer’s first love.  She made him drool.  Incessantly.

Boomer and Amber (October 2002)

            

When she was tiny, we used to roll her onto her belly on our lap, and let her ears flop over and rubbed her belly until she would growl up a frenzy.  She actually scared us with how aggressive her growl could be.  She looked like the cutest little bat with her head upside down and ears flopped over like that.

She was born 9-12-99, 3 days after we were married.

She loved visits from Tyler and Trenton who came across the street to visit.

When going for a ride in the car, she loved to bark at motor cycles.  It curiously resembles a wobbly flash light…


There was no motorcycle right then,
but she loved to go for a ride in the car

She had an exciting New Year’s Eve (12/31/02) with Banjo. 

Banjo & Amber, sittin' in a tree...

She had 11 puppies on February 25, 2003.  She woke her daddy up and told him it was time the morning she gave birth.  Todd had the whelping box completed the day before.  Just. In. Time.

Amber, February 24, 2003
the day before she delivered 11 puppies

Amber with her 11 puppies
February 25, 2003

Kevin and Suzie came over to witness the amazing event, and we celebrated by cooking breakfast.  Sausage links & eggs.  Todd cracked his first beer at 11a.m. 

About a week after her puppies were born, she wandered the house looking for Roscoe.  (Roscoe passed away 2-12-2003.)

Amber could crawl.

Amber began what we call the “rib juice dance” one time after having “gravy” added to her dog food which was the juice from ribs that Todd had boiled.  She also taught her kids this special dance.  She would come into the living room after having eaten, and rub her face on the ground with her butt still up in the air and she would rub one way then the other and moan.  The better the meal = the longer & louder the dance.  We would then appropriately applaud her efforts.  This would often happen even when they had nothing special added to their chow.

When Amber was really little, we put a brick in front of the water crock so she could reach the water to get a drink.  We thought it might be risky, and sure enough, she fell right in.  That was her first swim.  We started putting a cutting board over the water when we were not right there.

Amber was even smaller than this when she took her first dunk

She had a great time at her puppy shower; so many friends came to see her.  She also enjoyed the pups 1 year birthday party (a.k.a. Mud Fest 2004), too.  She had a hard time relinquishing her Alpha status to Abbytail but after a year or two, she adapted and became her happy self again.

Right after the puppy shower late March 2003

Amber after the puppy shower

She loved to walk up to us and put her head between our knees and just wag her tail.  Her dog-dad acted the same way on our surprise visit for me to meet her parents one time when we were driving around KC.   Sometimes she was so excited that she would walk right through.  I think it was her way of hugging.

She enjoyed her first Dog-N-Jog which benefited the Humane Society of Greater KC with Roscoe the summer of 2000.  On the way there, the Cow Parade was in full swing; at an intersection there was a cow at which Amber barked herself silly.

She captured Nellie’s heart.  Soon thereafter Roscoe followed suit.  Peer pressure can be a beautiful thing!


 

Nellie and little Amber

 

Nellie, Amber, and Roscoe

Amber loved her big siblings

Roscoe, Nellie, and baby Amber

She naturally chased her tail; so it was very easy to associate a command with the action.  She would do a “Round-and-Round” for treats and to wipe off her paws.

Suzie taught her to enjoy opening presents that come wrapped in a gift bag.

Amber's 5th birthday, I believe

She can catch a 2’ Frisbee.

Amber loved her Frisbees

In Advanced Puppy class, she had no problems walking through a refrigerator cardboard box.  Many puppies were not successful.

She watched her big brother, Roscoe, find the Golden Egg prize at the Easter Begg Hunt, sponsored by Three Dog Bakery.  She enjoyed sharing the year supply of dog food!

Amber on left, Roscoe on right
Scariest damn rabbit I've ever seen

 

We had a newer dog bed in the corner of our bedroom near T’s side of the bed.  Almost every night, Keystone would try to claim that bed, but we’d make him get down off of it, so that Amber could have it.  She would walk into the room and just wait.  She knew we’d make him give it to her.  Then she’d curl up on it, and Keystone would usually curl up right beside that bed.

She was very protective of her Momma.  Especially when Daddy was picking on me.   If ever there would have been a burglar, Amber would have put them in their place.  This thought is supported by how she acted when Todd would pick on me.  Amber would grab the toy closest to her and shake the heck out of it and growl.  She took her aggression out on the toy, cause she knew she couldn’t bite Daddy.  I would have pitied the poor soul who ever thought of putting a hand on me.  Now I fear they would only be sat upon by Keystone…

Amber would prance around after she received a beer can from her Daddy.  She would wag her tail and have her head bent slightly downward & look up at you to make sure you saw that she had a prized possession.  This was after she sat down right in front of us and stared from the can to us and back at the can.

Amber loved laying on the cool tile.

In the summer, Amber loved to play with Mt. Tiki Soakee.  It was a water fountain that would sporadically send up spurts of water.  Amber would run up to it, and bite at the water, regardless of how much water was coming out fast and furiously.  She LOVED water.  She would take a water hose full force in the mouth too.  She thought it was great fun.

She loved howling w/her kids (and dad) at the tornado warning sirens on test day in KS.  Who knew, until Todd started staying home during the day?

 

Favorite Sayings/Games:

·         Boo, you’re two?

·         Boo, you’re two times two plus two?

·         Boo, you’re two times two times two?

·         It can be a hat….  (while placing a frisbee on your head)

Nicknames:

·         Amber Boo,

·         Boo,

·         Amber Bamber Boo,

·         Curly Boo,

·         Miss Poopy Pants  (somehow this one made the last few weeks easier to handle).
 

Amber was a hippy Halloween 2003

The last day we were blessed to have her in our lives, she wagged her tail that morning (she hadn't been able to move anything below mid-back); also it rained, and there was a rainbow.