Nubia was canine pal to many. Did you know she was also a Muttville celebrity? Once you watch Nubia in this now popular Muttville video, The Ballad of Muttville, you will not forget her!
Thank you to fospice mom Mary for writing a tribute to Nubia:
Nubia’s Friends
To know Nubia, as so many Muttville staffers and volunteers did, was to know a little dog with a quirky and engaging personality. She was a clown and with her talent for carrying around the strangest things, found herself starring in a home-grown video that promoted Muttville. She had a sultry woof that a friend of mine called the ‘Lauren Bacall’ bark and she had the sweetness that I know to expect from a Shih Tzu. What could have caused her previous owners to leave her at a shelter in Martinez, CA on Christmas Eve?
Nubia’s original foster dad told me that when she was rescued by Muttville, she was “lumpy, dumpy and sad” and hadn’t been expected to live very long. But she did live and slowly started to become herself again at Muttville surrounded by good medical care and fostering.
After Nubia picked me by suction-cupping her large black nose to my pant leg I often found myself thinking about her past. What had she been like as a puppy? What had happened to cause one of her eyes to be injured or malformed? How many puppies had she raised? It certainly seemed that she must have been a great mother. As I took one look at this tousle-headed girl with silky soft fur, I decided it would give me a great sense of satisfaction to shower love upon a little dog that someone else had so casually discarded.
To live with me, Nubia was going to have to be multi-species friendly, and amazingly, she co-existed wonderfully with my other pets. She was tolerant of my talking, dancing Moluccan Cockatoo and sashayed around the house with my two cats. If anyone got too loud, she would woof once and that was enough to settle everyone down.
Nubia was also the gentle companion I had hoped she would be to my male Shih Tzu Oreo. He and I had been very depressed, having said goodbye just a few months earlier to a beautiful and spunky 14-year old Shih Tzu named Ginger.
As if she had angel wings, Nubia helped lift my spirits and Oreo’s from the moment I brought her home. She in turn seemed impressed by the handsome new man in her life and I was able to get her out around the neighborhood. Oreo would take off first, and Nubia and I would follow, probably cramping his style just a bit but getting our exercise as well.
Slowly but surely, Nubia’s little body did start to slow down. Her spirit and heart were always strong, though and I will remember her for that as well as her throaty bark and the remarkable scent of her fur – like sweet hay. Which made me think again of all those puppies that must have snuggled against her soft tummy and found love and comfort.
This tribute is to you, Nubia, and to all of Nubia’s friends.
My Facebook posting about Nubia’s passing generated almost 50 ‘Likes’ and ‘Comments’ in one day and led to this observation by one of my friends who had never met Nubia: “It’s not often that blessings overflow to the extent I see with this little lady. She blessed so many lives….”
7/8/15
