Since 1947 many pets have worked here helping people that have suffered their loss. Since I have not been here from the beginning, and wasn't here at the time this occurred, some of these stories come from memory. These are stories my wife and her family relayed.
It started with Pegurgi (fleas in Italian) she was the first superintendent. She was a "Toto" kind of dog and I understand that she performed many tricks. Her antics brought a smile to the faces of many a saddened visitor. I don't know how she passed but she was buried here and has a marker.
Then came Whitey. Whitey was a female Samoyed with brilliant white fur. I understand the when she was brushed and combed that they saved the fur and a lady used it to knit and make things. I don't know what became of Whitey.
Next was Sully. I was here during the reign of Sully. He was a beautiful brilliant red male Irish Setter. Sully was a wanderer. He would go on outings and check in every couple of days or weeks or so. We never knew when he was coming or going as he roamed the San Bruno Mountain. When he returned he was skinny, exhausted and covered with fleas and ticks so I would bath him and pull the ticks out with my fingers. He would wolf down his food and lay on his back in the sun with his legs splayed and his head to one side and his tongue hanging out. He did know how to relax. He was always very exhausted so we would fatten him up and then off her would go again. I know that Sully liked me because he bit me once and Julia (my mother in law) said he only bites the people he likes. He went away and day and never returned, kind of a western saga in its self.
Then comes Daisy. Daisy was a very loving also a "Toto" type terrier. I believe she was a SPCA special. She was Julia's pal. They would come and go together. She traveled with Julia to Clear Lake, Cloverdale, Reno. Just about everywhere Julia would go, Daisy would be by her side.
Enter Pińon. Now Pińon was a very special dog. Irene, Julane and I brought her from New Mexico. She was half German Shepherd and half Coyote. Her special talent was chasing the cows out of the alfalfa. She was the ultimate mother. When our neighbor Jack and Heidi's dog Sativa had pups, she tired of them almost immediately and Piņon would jump in the puppy frame and take care of them like they were her own. She just couldn't nurse them. One day Piņon was walking into our little village El Cerrito and her head was swollen and her nose was bloody. I knew she had been bitten by a rattle snake. With the information from University of Arizona, I immediately laid her down and packed her head in ice. I couldn't use a tourniquet but when she was resting comfortably I jumped o my motorcycle and drove to Villanueva and used the phone to call sixty miles to Santa Fe to a Vet for help. He told me that I should take her out and shoot her and I told him what he could do and I went back to continue ministering to her wounds. She was very embarrassed and would not go outside and didn't want the other animals to see her. She slowly got better although the wound was ugly and awful to look at. The skin was just dissolving. I learned that the venom from the snake is a predigestive enzyme and was digesting the skin. We kept the wound very clean and two weeks later she had pups. We didn't know she was pregnant. I advertised them as rattle snake proof puppies. I advertised them as rattlesnake proof puppies (ten acres or better for openers) and they all got real good homes.
She was so perceptive that I could line up twenty people and she would walk over to the person that had suffered a loss and lick their hand. I have many great stories about her adventures in New Mexico and here at the cemetery.
Daisy and Piņon were buddies. They went on many adventures together. Their favorite adventure on a yearly basis was a visit to the neighbor Serbian Cemetery. The Serbian tradition of Easter is to put boiled eggs on the graves and the dogs would cross under the fence and go eat their fill of boiled eggs. Needless to say that the odor in the house after one of these visits was unbearable. To make it worse, they would wait a couple of weeks until the eggs were rotten and roll in them and come prancing back so proud of the new odor they had acquired. One day Daisy went missing and we lost her for three days. When we found her she had been run over somewhere on Hillside Boulevard. We took her to Dr. Uthe (San Bruno Vet Clinic) and he saved her life. She was now Daisy the Tripod. Daisy got a real bad infection and died as a result of the accident. I think if she had been able to crawl home sooner we might have saved her life.
When Piņon was about fourteen years she had been slowing down almost to a halt. One day Irene, Julane and I were eating breakfast and had that talk that we all hate. We decided that it was time to allow her some dignity and have her put to sleep. We bathed her and tried to get her to eat her favorite food but she was very weak. I laid her head in my lap and was petting her and, at one point, she looked up at me and lowered her head and just went away. This was the greatest gift I have ever received. I see people that come in the office having just put their pet to sleep second guessing and wondering if they did the right thing and I am forever grateful and thank her for the gift of not putting us through that task.