I’ve seen some crazy things in my time here on earth, but never have I seen anything come and go so wildly as my beloved canine friend Rafiki, my friend, Raef, Ren, RafMeister 4000, RifRaf, Mr Rafickles, of the many names I gave him, it’s sad to say that now he may rest in peace.
Rafiki came into my life somewhat unexpectedly, and boy was he a wild-child. A friend of mine had gotten a chihuahua and I said to them, “Oh, I so want one”! and my friend took me seriously. She said that the momma was having another litter and that I could get one on the next go around. I told her I wanted to name my dog “Bageira” after the puma from Jungle Book, and she laughed.
Well, a few months later this friend called me up and said “hey, I’m bringing your dog in a few weeks.” “Oh, dear”, I thought. There weren’t exactly dogs allowed where I lived. But I figured I’d deal with that soon enough. Then about a week later my friend called and said “Hey, the dogs came early, so I’m bringing you Rafiki next week”. “Rafiki?” I thought. Oh, snap. Rafiki was the wise manderil from The Lion King and the name meant ‘my friend’ in Swahili. So mote it be.
A week later she showed up with this little pup and the rest was history. I fell in love immediately. When my landlord called the next day and said “We know you have a dog, get rid of it”, I was presented with a choice: to move or get give him away! But at work the next day, a friend told me I could register him as a service animal online, and that way my housing unit had to by law let me keep him. I looked in the process, had some therapists of mine write some letters saying why I needed a service animal as a dog, and voila, I was allowed to keep Rafiki at my current place of residence. The fun began.
From the start, this dog was not an easy animal… he was a full-time dog, requiring constant attention and stimulation. Luckily, I was allowed to bring him to work with me, and I worked from home quite a bit, during the Pandemic, so I had the time and energy to spend with him. It was hard work, but worth it. He truly was my soulmate. After about a year and a half of having this pup, I ended up landing a new job but that new place of business was not super keen on having dogs in the office. While I could have pressed the issue, I feared it made me look unstable and I didn’t want to start off a new job that way, so I turned to dog sitters and left him home more often. As time went on, it became easier to have Rafiki stay full-time with my friend, whom he adored, and I would take him on the weekends when my friend needed a sitter. While it pained me to be away from him so, it felt like the best move for the dog’s happiness.
As things can sometimes go, me and this friend ended up having a bit of a falling out, and I was told I wasn’t going to get my dog back or be able to see him again. I was pretty devastated. After trying to get the police to help me get him back and consulting with some lawyers, I decided to take matters into my own hands and to just show up at the residence of the person who had Rafiki, and I took him back. In what ended in a not very pretty battle, I ended up getting my dog back, and was ecstatic. I was no longer working at that same job, and was able to be with him even more, and it was truly a dream. I cherished this little pup. He truly saved my life during what were some very hard times. He was my baby.
So you can imagine the horror when on the solstice, December 20, 2023, a coyote that I had seen a few times in my neighborhood, came up to our front door and Rafiki ran out after him, thinking the coyote was a dog that he wanted to play. As I chased the two down the street, franticly screaming at Rafiki to stop, and come back, alas, they were too fast for me, and I watched the coyote grab Rafiki in its mouth and run off into the woods with him. It was truly, the most horrific thing I have ever gone through.
I was in shock for several days, and it made for quite a sad Christmas, New Year and Birthday season. I thought that I knew what grief was, but I really didn’t know the level of grief thought possible until this event. I still to this day, break down into tears almost every time I drive down my street. I cannot get that image out of my head, going over the incident over and over again in my head, obsessing about what I could have done differently, and maybe he’d still be alive.
While that dog had been trying to kill himself since the day I got him, eating whatever he could possibly fit in his mouth and running out into the road every chance he got. I still loved that little bugger, and I will always cherish the blessed time we got to spend together. He truly was my best friend and my baby.