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When Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars, had been ours for about a month, we noticed that she wouldn’t stop eating stuff in the back yard: pebbles, sticks, mulch, grass, you name it. Our vet, who performed emergency surgery, said some of the sharp sticks could have done all sorts of damage in there, from perforating organs to obstructing everything.

When she was a year or two old, she suddenly had trouble just standing up to walk. It was Lyme disease, which recurred a few years later and for which she still tests positive even though she has fully recovered.

Dejah — who got that name because I wanted to have an excuse to tell people to watch the wrongly maligned Andrew Stanton near-masterpiece John Carter — has defied expectations. Her big sister Willow The Best Dog There Is™ died a few days shy of her 12th birthday, so when I took 11-year-old Dejah to the vet for an issue I no longer remember, I asked about her chances.

“I don’t see any reason she won’t make it to her 12th birthday just fine,” said the vet.

Today, Dejah turns 13.

Except for the five months between Willow’s death and the arrival of puppy Summer, the poor thing has always played second fiddle. I bonded with Willow closer than any other canine in my life, and puppies always demand more attention than the old dog, so I have probably never given Dejah all of the consideration she deserves.

She doesn’t seem to mind. She accepts what belly rubs and ear scratches that she can gather, she is always up for a treat — they are prescription diet treats these days and not the well-known brands — and she gleefully wrestles with Summer for possession of the throw rug, which is probably the hardiest bit of home decor ever manufactured.

Never mind that she spends most days lying on her back having a good, pleasant snooze anymore; that most nights she gets up at least once or twice to go out in the back yard (heck, so do I); and most of the time it’s a bit of a struggle to stand up (again, me too).

Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars, is a survivor with a big golden retriever smile. When I mentioned that I was writing about this old dog for today, Mary said, “I have a feeling this won’t be her last birthday.”

I’ve never had a 14-year-old golden retriever. Heck, I never had a 12-year-old before last August, and today, Dejah is 13. We’ll take it one day at a time, perhaps for 365 more.

I’ve already told all the best Summer stories — about how on the way to pick out our new golden retriever puppy, Red and I talked what we would name her. We went through dozens of possibilities, just like the process that led to the naming of Willow the Best Dog There Was™ before her. Willow was a character in one of our favorite TV shows.

We were going through the characters from another Joss Whedon classic, and the actresses who played them. Kaylee? Jewel? Zoe? Gina? Inara? Morena? River? Summer?

There was a long pause, and I said. “I don’t know why, but ‘Summer’ passes the choke-Warren-up test.”

There was a longer pause, and to my surprise Red replied, tearfully, “Me, too.”

And that’s how Summer became Summer.

Then I spent 45 minutes at the breeder’s house sitting on the floor and letting golden retriever puppies climb over me while I asked, “Which one of you is Summer?” It was a hard decision, but the one with the yellow collar — code name Mimosa — won the day. Summer came home about a month later.

The pups — eight girls and two boys — had been born the night of July 19 and the early morning hours of July 20, 2021. We weren’t sure exactly when our puppy was born, but the papers say July 20, which was good enough for us. 

Summer is a very kind, very loving, very strange dog. There are 10 steps down from the deck to the backyard, and she negotiates those stairs all the time. But she has never, in all these years, come down the 10 steps to the basement, no matter how much I try to coax her.

We have been through a lot together, not the least of which was losing her human mom, who died a month before Summer’s second birthday. But with her big sister Dejah, Summer has been a constant source of joy and amusement for five years now. How is it possible that that wonderful origin story was already five years ago now?

Happy birthday, Summer Sum Sum, my amazing little pal.