My Ron, thank you so much!

Non-chan and Ron
　　　　　　　　　Written by Non-chan

日本語版もあります。

No.1　 Meeting with Ron
It was still cold in March 6.
The long-awaited puppy arrived.
Wrapped in a cushion and a towel, he behaved as if he was cold.
He was named Ron, after the brave and wonderful hero dog I saw on TV.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　From 8-year-old Non-chan

Non-chan had always wanted to get a puppy.
One day, Non-chan's father came home with a puppy wrapped in a towel and a small *futon.
How Non-chan must have longed for this day.

His face was peeking out from inside the towel.
His eyes and nose were black and wet.
Non-chan did not know whether he was cold or afraid, but he was shaking.

When Non-chan brought her face close to his, his eyes, black as marbles, were staring at her.
When her father gently put the futon down on the tatami mat, the puppy crawled out of the towel and walked a few steps, staggering a bit.

"Oh, he's so cute!”said Non-chan.
When Non-chan put her hand close to his, he gently licked her hand.
That tickles! Non-chan thought, but at that moment she felt very happy.

Non-chan's mother filled a small dish with water and placed it in front of him, who drank for a while, making a licking sound.
He must have been thirsty.
"Maybe he was worried about where he was going to be taken.
Don't worry! You're going to be family from now on.
We'll walk together every day.”

Non-chan named this puppy "Ron.
She named him after a brave and gentle dog she had seen on TV when she was a little girl named "London," a dog who traveled alone.
London was big and imposing, but this little boy is a small dog with soft white fur like a plush toy. So she took only the first three letters of his name and cutely chose "Ron.
Thus, the encounter with Ron made a big impression on Non-chan's heart.

No.2 Ron's food

Non-chan wanted to give Ron a variety of delicious foods. However, her mother told her to give him some dog food not to get a tummy ache. Non-chan had no choice but to give up giving mandarin oranges, bean buns, egg rolls, and chocolate.
Nong-chan stared at him eating dog food.
Her mother gently mixed some of the meat from the soup she had made for dinner into his dog food.
Ron ate it up as if he had drunk the meat. I wondered if he could taste it after eating it so quickly. Why didn't he just taste it more? Non-chan thought. After that, Ron licked the juices from the meat on the dog food and ate the dog food again with a crunching sound.
I wonder if dog food tastes good?
Non-chan wondered a little.

No.3 Ron's House

Non-chan's father made a house for Ron.
It is a square box made of black plywood. It has an entrance just big enough for Ron to enter. There is a small blanket folded up inside and a water dish next to the entrance.
Non-chan called this house "House," and taught it to Ron with all her might. Before long, when Nong-chan said "House!" to Ron, Ron reluctantly entered the house even though he did not want to go in.
Perhaps because Ron thought the entrance to the house was a little too small, he was daily scraping the plywood with his teeth to make it just the right height.
Her mother said, "Maybe he's working on his teeth.”
But Non-chan thought that Ron definitely wanted to make the entrance bigger.
When Ron had enough of playing in the living room, he goes into his house by himself. He lies down on a warm blanket with only his front paws sticking out and his face resting on the blanket. His pitch-black eyes are staring into Non-chan's eyes. I wonder if she is trying to say something.

No.4 Ron's song
　　　　　　　　　　　
Play with Ron
Let's play, Ron.
Let's run, Ron.
If I throw a Otedama(a beanbag), take it and come back.

Ron's nap
Snoozing, snoozing, snoozing, goo, goo ・・・・
How cute, Ron's sleeping face is!

Walking with Ron
Go for a walk with me.
Let’s go for a run and walk.
Let's take the usual path.

　This "Ron’s Song” is the song that Non-chan wrote when she was 9 years old.
It is a very short song, but she wrote it up to the third verse. At that time, NON-chan was learning to play the electronic organ, so she was checking the notes on it while singing the song. When she thought it was the right note, she wrote down the notes in her notebook, and little by little the song was completed.
When she finished the song, she couldn't wait to have someone listen to it. She was a little shy, but decided to have her mother listen to it.
She sang it hard, and her mother said, “What a beautiful song it is!.”
Her father always come home late, but on the day NON-chan waited for him to listen to her freshly sung song, trying hard not to get sleepy.
His father also said, “Oh, it's a nice song. It's easy to sing."
Non-chan was very, very happy to be praised by her favorite father and mother.

No.5 Taking a Walk with Ron

Ron loves to go outside. Especially when Non-chan comes home from school, he can go for a walk with her. Seeing Non-chan, he comes in with his tail wagging wildly, biting the lead.
When Non-chan sees Ron like this, she is very happy.
No matter how tired she is, she leaves her school bag behind and goes for a walk.
The path from the house to the pedestrian bridge is their particular favorite. There are grass and small flowers blooming here and there, and they sometimes stop at the park beyond. Sometimes a neighbor lady calls out to Ron, but he turns away when he is engrossed. When he finally comes to the pedestrian bridge, he climbs up the low steps in one bound. Non-chan gasps for breath and finally follows Ron.
When they reach the top of the pedestrian bridge, this is Non-chan's favorite place. It feels good to be able to see much further and to take a big breath and feel refreshed.
Sometimes we would stop and ask Ron about what happened at school today, or about any problems she was having.
At such times, Ron would sit and listen to her with his head tilted back. But when he gets bored, he gets up and walks away. She would say, "Hey, listen to me more!” and she would start to continue her story with Ron pulling her along. Even if she is having a bad day, talking to Ron calms her down. “I've had enough! It’s OK! I can stop thinking about it.”
We take a little detour from the road we came and go home by Ron's favorite route.

No.6 　 Ron's sleeping face

Ron often sleeps. He may not be sleeping, but he is lying down.
He is curled up like a cat and his head is attached to his stomach.
He is in a long pose with all his arms and legs stretched out.
Lying down, arms and legs together.
Pose lying on her back with arms and legs spread apart. This is amazing! How can he sleep in such defenseless poses?
In the cold winter, he warms himself in a kotatsu (a Japanese low table with an electric heater). As the song says, cats curl up in the kotatsu, but I wonder if dogs don't like the cold either.
No matter how he sleeps, he is all really cute.
I thought he was sleeping, but sometimes he would glance at me with a sideways glance.
I wonder what Ron is thinking at such times.

No.7 Ron's playtime

Ron loves to play.
When Non-chan throws a soft ball, Ron puts his paws together and flies after it like a rabbit.
He then catches the ball with his paws and brings it to Non-chan with his cute little mouth. When Non-chan throws the ball farther this time, he looks in the same direction and runs almost as fast as the ball.
Next is the Otedam！Let’s play.
When Non-chan was practicing the handballs（Otedama）, Ron wanted to play along with her, and as he followed the Otedama with his eyes, he stumbled a little.
As soon as Non-chan drops one, he reaches out and catches it! Then he is mean to Non-chan and purposely does not give it to her.
He also loves to climb up and down stairs.
She uses her body to get down the stairs carefully, one step at a time. But he climbs very fast. When I take my eyes off him for a moment, he goes upstairs. What is he doing?
But Ron's favorite thing to do is to run around outside as much as he can. With his front and back legs together, he runs fast and furiously, letting the wind blow in his face. Non-chan can't keep up with him, and Ron seems to be pulling her along.
On days when he has played a lot, he sleeps soundly.
Goo-ska goo goo goo　･･･.　
　
No.8 Ron's taking a bath

Ron takes a bath with his father. His white, bushy fur is limp from a tubful of hot water. Ron's body instantly becomes one size smaller. Ron hates baths. While he is being shampooed, his tail stays down and he shivers a little. His father is trying his best to finish as quickly as possible.
When the last of the hot water is poured on us and all the bubbles are gone, Dad tells us in a loud voice, "Ron's leaving!" Most of the time, Non-chan heads for the bathroom with a bath towel. First she wipes off the wet hair with the towel and takes him into the large room, where Ron also blows himself dry. After that, we dry him with a hair dryer. Ron hates the sound of the hair dryer. But when his hair is dried to a certain extent, he feels good, running around, lying down, jumping up and down, and having a lot of fun. But actually, he has to do one more thing that he hates. That is brushing. Ron's hair is soft and fine, so it gets tangled easily. When he is brushed, the tangled hair gets caught in the brush, which seems to be really painful for him, and he cries. However, if the tangled hairs are not untangled for a long time, the situation becomes even worse. That is why NON-chan brushes hard.
Ron is sometimes taken to the hairdresser. However, he is not happy about it. He has to stay still, and he hates shampooing, brushing, and removing hairballs.
After an hour or two, Nong-chan goes to the salon to pick him up, and there appears a very nice looking dog that makes you wonder if this is Ron. His hair is trimmed and cut, and his legs are trimmed short. Her hair is pure white and glossy and hangs down from her body. The long hair is gathered on his forehead, and a red ribbon is attached to the base of the hair.
When she called "Ron," he looked at Non-chan through the glass and wagged his tail widely.

No. 9 Ron is very smart

Non-chan always thinks that Ron is very smart.
When she says, "Ote! he will give his right hand.
Don't eat yet.
OK !
No!
Sit down.
Take a walk.
Dinner is ready.
In this way he learns many words.
He understands the feelings of each family member.
Angry.
Laughing.
When they are fighting, he intercedes.
Ron tries his best to get their attention by barking at them, or by playing tricks on them, as if to say, "Don't fight. Sometimes he even lies down in front of Non-chan.
Seeing him trying so hard makes them think that they need to stop fighting.

No.10 Thank you Ron!

Some time later, Non-chan had become a wonderful woman.

Normally he would jump up and down with a big wagging tail when he saw the lead. That day, he did not.
But he did want to go for a walk.
He stopped several times that day, even though it was his usual favorite path.
Finally, he wouldn't take a step forward.
I had no choice but to carry him home.
What was wrong with him?
This had never happened before.
Ron is 12 years old, which is a senior citizen in a dog's age.
I wondered if he was tired.
Let's take him to the hospital tomorrow morning.
He did not want to go to sleep during the whole night. I decided to sleep on the sofa to be by his side. When I lay down to sleep with my eyes closed, he would come to my side and try to wake me up, as if to tell me not to sleep.
When I put Ron on the sofa, he would close his eyes and lay his head down, but he would wake up immediately. It seems he still can't sleep.
I dozed off and on until dawn.
I wondered if he was finally able to sleep, but he fell asleep and did not wake up.
I waited for him for a long time, but he did not wake up.
I wondered if he was dreaming of a walk.
His sleeping face looked as if he was smiling.
But he would not open his eyes.
Thank you, Ron.
Thank you, Ron, for being there for me.
Even when I was sad
In times of pain
When I was happy
You were always by my side
I've had a wonderful time.
Thank you so much for being with me
Thank you so much. (^∧^)

To my favorite Ron