this picture was taken by my friend, jen, of her puppy who just happens to look almost identically to my childhood pup, goliath "goli" kim.
he was, perhaps, on the top 10 list of world's naughtiest dogs. any bad thing a dog could do, goli did. he chewed up shoes, chewed on the walls, pooped in the house, ate my school supplies (he chewed up my favorite green eraser which i thought i lost until i took goli out to go to the bathroom and saw what he had done with it), knocked over trash cans, attacked the vacuum cleaner, got up on the table to eat food at Thanksgiving, begged for food like no other dog i've seen. he would crawl under the table and rest his head on your lap and make cute whimpering noises, but if you ignored his gentle whimpers for a couple minutes, they became loud moans that sounded like "come on, man. come on! give something up, puhhlease?" he was like a harry houdini in dog form. he could get out of any cage, fence that you put him in. when he was a puppy, only a few months old he chewed through a thick plastic crate in a few hours. when he was only a couple months old, he got out of a fenced area and followed me on my school bus.goli also was notorious for running away. when the door opened he would try to squeeze out of that door like a criminal from prison. once he caught the scent of fresh air, he was gone, especially if there were small animals around. he loved to bark at squirrels and rabbits. if we were outside and squirrels were visible i would always do my best to distract him so he wouldn't try to chase them. heck, i would have thrown down a $50 steak in front of him to avoid an attempted runaway squirrel chase. he was super fast and, to add to the list of all of his "naughtiness", he had terrible obedience skills. when he'd escape we would chase and call him to come to us and he would turn and begin running toward us, giving us a sense of relief, but then at the last second he would dodge us and start running another direction just to "sike" us out. he was kind of a punk. it often took the whole family to catch him. i'm sure we were quite the spectacle running around our neighborhood with treats in hand trying to lure him back into his collar and leash. sometimes my mom or dad would drive the car around with the doors open to try to get him to jump in because he loved car rides.
he loved to snuggle and sleep with you. even though he was a pit bull he was really just a big cuddlebug. he would nose his way under the blankets and wanted every inch of his body covered. i sometimes slept with an electric blanket and he loved it. he would cuddle underneath and stay there for hours. he liked to be comfortable when he slept. he didn't like to walk in the grass after it rained because he didn't like to get his feet wet. he wasn't allowed to get on the couches at home, but he would always sleep on them while we were gone. as soon as we walked in the door i would hear the rattle of his collar and i'd see his ear pressed against his face where he had be laying against the throw pillow. he would have this look of "i didn't do anything wrong. i'm just hangin' out...", but then we'd walk over to the couch to see his body print embedded in the cushion, still warm.
he had other endearing qualities. he was super smart and knew dozens of tricks. he knew how to give kisses where he would press his lips against your face. he could jump in the air and twist (i called it the triple axle), he could play dead and pass out, he high fived, could give hugs and dozens more tricks, he enjoyed music and would lay at my feet when i played piano. he would try to sing along when my mom played guitar. he loved to be scratched. he would sulk when he got in trouble. his sulking hiding spot was under my parents' bed and if you tried to pull him out he would nip at your fingers.
goli eventually got sick and we had to make one of the hardest decisions of my life. we had to put him down. we loved him so much and i still miss him and think of him all the time, especially every fourth of july. whenever he heard fireworks he would hide in the bushes because it scared him so much. it always made us laugh. in between the booms and pops he would muster up the courage to come out and bark at the sky to show his indignation, but eventually he would end up back in the bushes and there was no coaxing him out.
i don't know if dogs really do go to heaven, but i hope i'll be able to see him again. when he died, i was so sad and i prayed God would let me see him in my dreams and i do. every once in a while i have dreams of playing with goli, running around and laughing at his quirkiness. he was perhaps the world's naughtiest dog, but i sure do love and miss him.
