06/21/2019
On the passing of Snorkels aka Snorkel Bean McGillicuddy McFee one of the finest dogs to ever live.
In a world full of remarkable dogs, even Snorkels stood out as a Queen of the Rescues and an Ambassador of love. Now that she has passed Snorkels deserves a proper obituary.
Snorkels achieved so much in life by loving almost everyone and expecting their love back, which she got everywhere she went. She also snored louder than anyone you ever met, pound for pound. And in spite of this she was also one of the cutest darn things you ever saw and she made sure to remind you of it, in case you forgot.
Four days after Iris Monroe and I adopted Snorkels, she was helping attract people to my tech wares at the MIT Flea Market and we always had amazing sales when she attracted geeks to our booth. She charmed many leading scientific minds including the man who invented the first video game and many robotics people including several Battlebots contestants.
That was just one of three businesses that Snorkels helped found.
Snorkels and her connection to the Brown U Stadium dog park are what made Cutie Pies a successful business and got us off the ground. Many people bought pies out of the back of our car when Snorkels reminded them to bring one home. She was an amazing sales lady.
Also from that connection Dorota Streitfeld got her dog Blue and eventually started a business Boarding dogs. I hear Snorkels deserves some credit with that.
Snorkels also helped sell beads out of Karen’s Bead Store in Florida once she moved down there.
Snorkels invented SNORKELBALL, a game played by pugs trying to block a kicked tennis ball and then bringing it back in their mouth which barely fits and is extremely funny. Snorkels actually taught this game to her pug friend Lilly. There are strict rules. Snorkels also loved the Frisbee and the smallest expert Frisbee dog out there, never letting go.
There are countless works of art about Snorkels. Quite a few Paintings including an amazing work by the recently passed Daved Ferrell Miller, several sketches and sculptures, a book of Haiku Poetry in her Voice, and also several short monologue plays and a pecha kucha. Snorkels also did voice over and sound effects work for Amy Lynn Budd's play The Thing That Ate my Brain, Almost.
The Snorkels Voice was invented by Iris and I in order to have the dog be the one to voice things like taking out the trash and evolved into one of the great character voices that I hope will long out live my sweet pug who inspired it and lived up to the sweet but mischievously cute imp in works like the following poem https://soundcloud.com/sean-shea/i-promise-to-be-your-dog-at
Snorkels and her sass are also reflected in https://twitter.com/snorkelsthepug where she even got mentioned in the top ten. The latest post as a fluke got 23 likes which is close to a record for that account. Snorkels always knew how to go out on top.
The only thing better than the persona of Snorkels the Wonder Pug was her real life. When we had Cutie Pies she was spoiled for attention as we worked from home and was given the best table scraps New England had to offer by several of Rhode Island’s finest award winning cooks such as Joshua Selle and Ian Wade who always had burnt bacon for her, and Mama Tina’s Jamaican, and many others. She loved to eat birds, Chicken bird, pork bird, bacon bird, ham bird, beef bird, y’know any kind. Snorkels even got to try wild boar, elk, and kangaroo. She loved Asian food and also lamb livers.
Snorkels was always the ambassador of any dog park making sure to go up to any newly arriving dog or persona and welcome them. She played gladly and joyously with every and any dog, even jumping on big bull mastiffs thinking they were just pug dogs like her only grown up.
Iris Monroe and I adopted Snorkels in the worst of times. She was crazy for a pug dog, I wasn’t sold on the idea, and the whole adoption system was compromised by melamine poisoning in bad dog food. We had our hearts set on dogs only to hear they had died of the melamine or sometimes the pug was a scam. So similar to the heartbreak of adoptions or miscarriage.
But when we finally got Snorkels the Wonder Pug it turned out to be the best decision ever.
Snorkels gave so much happiness to me for the years we were together and to Iris Monroe who is one of the best dog parents anyone could ever have. She helped give The Snork one of the best, most full lives a dog ever had.
I’ve been crying my eyes out all week as the passing of Snorkels has been triggering a lot of suppressed grief about the human deaths of friends in my life recently such as Daved Ferrell Miller Robin Su Miller, David Blank, Floyd J Phillips, Barry Crimmins.
But I don’t want to let the preponderance of sadness dull the fact that we lost a really amazing Person who lived on this Earth as a Pug Dog and the world seems so much less happy without her fine little wrinkled furry face in it any more. She will always be my little girl.
