The newspaper ad read, “Yorkshire Terrier/Poodle Mix $100.” He knew there would be a special cub among them. Mommy Yorkie met us at the door, barking the typical terrier bark. She was taking care of the only cub left.

The first night, Spike cried and tried so hard to get out of his box. He made it out a couple of times, to my surprise. The dog leapt into the air, a feat he perfected over the years. This human mommy had to hug him so everyone could sleep.

The next day, he came back to life. Spike the Wonder Dog must have decided to enjoy life. He jumped onto the windowsill to bark at the neighbors. They thought it was funny that our little pup was playing watchdog. He didn’t have the typical terrier bark, not even a puppy bark. He already sounded like a mature male dog keeping control of him.

Spike ran into the bedroom and jumped on the bed barking at the passersby. He ran into the next room and jumped on my son’s bed to continue barking and following people passing by. What a smart 8 week old pup this boy was!

Throughout his all-too-short life, Spike often surprised us. His bark would have scared off any would-be thief. Teeth marks decorated our vacuum where Spike would fight her every time one of his humans tried to tidy up. He instructed Daddy Guard Duck and allowed the duck the privilege of guarding alongside him when garbage collectors or UPS delivery men dared to enter our driveway.

But Spike had a softer side. Every day as I sat on the front porch to greet the day and read God’s word and have my first cup of coffee, Spike would sit with me. The squirrels and birds learned that Spike would ignore them during coffee time. The birds swooped down for food, almost taunting Spike, but he stayed at my feet. The squirrels bravely sat on our porch railing eating peanuts. But once coffee time was over, Spike chased after those same birds and squirrels.

My tough guy fell head over heels for a beautiful princess. Pebbles was a Shih Tzu and the puppies resulting from that love affair were the cutest packs of fur. We could have easily sold 25 or 30 of them.

We had two puppies and after they were weaned Daddy Spike taught them to run and run around the yard. They were never so fast, nor so agile, and he smiled quite a bit when they lay exhausted in a heap after a good workout. He taught his cubs to jump into the air and they escaped. He loved to run in the orange grove behind our property.

One day when we asked Spike to find his pups, he didn’t come back with them. He later stumbled into our yard and died from a snake bite. We believe that he found his pups trapped by a snake and sent them home while he tried to fight that snake.