Sadie the Psycho Dog, a retriever who belonged to Star-Telegram columnist Dave Lieber and his family, died of cancer this month at the Animal Clinic of Watauga. She was 9.
Sadie was introduced to the public in a 1994 column by Dave called "Dog's not all I need to fill hole in my life."
On the surface, the column was about Dave's troubled relationship with his girlfriend's dog. It began, "Here in Texas, I've met the woman of my dreams. Unfortunately, she lives with the dog of my nightmares."
Detailing Dave's relationship with Karen and her family, the column continued, "While Karen and her two children appear to love me very much, Psycho Dog hates and fears me." The column ended with a surprise marriage proposal to Karen, the children and "your doggone little dog."
The column generated tremendous reader interest and earned Dave the top prize the next year in a writing contest sponsored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
After that debut, Dave and Sadie embarked on a string of public appearances. Sadie played the role of America's premier canine press critic, but it was not an act. She really didn't like Dave, whom she called "The Brute."
In their first appearance, before the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Retired School Employees group, Sadie sat nearby as Dave read a speech on the dog's behalf titled The Press: Unfair Not Only to Humans.
Sadie recounted the details of her early life. A family in Irving had abused her until Karen and her children rescued her a few days before Christmas 1992 when she was 6 months old. To give her a fresh start, Karen changed the dog's name from Lucky to Sadie.
In that speech, Sadie also told how during her first visit to the Star-Telegram with Dave, she went to the bathroom on the newsroom carpet.
"Ha!" the text of her speech stated. "I showed those reporters. Take a whiff of that! That's what I think of the news media."
In an attempt to improve their relationship, Dave and Sadie enrolled in a dog obedience class at North Richland Hills Recreation Center. The course was taught by Ernie Barr, an 82-year-old who took one look at the pair and commented, "We've got a lot of ground to cover."
Months later, Dave and Sadie appeared at Mutt & Strutt '95, an event sponsored by the Humane Society of North Texas. The pair entered a costume contest dressed as bride and groom. Sadie wore a lace wedding veil, and Dave wore a tuxedo.
At that event, Sadie sat next to Island Girl, a well-known German shepherd who had lived on a median near Interstate 30 and Texas 183 in west Fort Worth before she was rescued, becoming - like Sadie - a role model for pet adoptions. As Sadie sniffed Island Girl, Island Girl snapped at Sadie's face. Both dogs barked and glared before Dave moved Sadie to a neutral corner.
Dave and Sadie's next public appearance went much better. On the eve of the 1996 debut of her new Web site, Sadie's Backyard, Sadie appeared before 400 students at Shady Grove Elementary School in Keller to deliver a speech called What a Dog Can Teach About Reading and Writing.
Sadie's Web site on StarText.net garnered nationwide attention. Hers was one of the nation's first pet Web sites, and she used it to communicate with other animals. The Star-Telegram heavily promoted Sadie's Backyard, which caused Dave to grow jealous because his Web site was not nearly as popular.
With her popularity growing, Sadie was the featured attraction at a July 1996 event at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in North Richland Hills. More than 100 people attended the Star-Telegram event, which was promoted in newspaper advertisements that announced, "Come Meet Dave and Sadie." More than half of those who attended said they cared only about meeting the dog.
Not long after that, Sadie retreated from the public eye, and her appearances in Dave's column became rare.
Several weeks ago, after Dave wrote a column revealing Sadie's illness, she returned to the keyboard and responded to a flurry of sympathetic e-mail with a message that included the following:
"I don't feel quite comfortable with my illness being paraded in the newspaper. I knew something was up when Dave made me sit with him as he wrote that column. He started crying as he wrote it, but he wouldn't read it to me, which is fine because I usually don't like his stuff anyway."
She continued, "I wasn't pleased. I am a private dog. I retired from public life several years ago to spend more time with my family. But for some reason, Dave insists on trotting me out every so often for a column. He is a desperate man, always looking for something to fill his space in the paper. But I get no residuals, so what good does public exposure do for me?"
At Sadie's passing, Dave was by her side. Afterward, amid the tears, Karen told Dave, "You owe her everything. She put you on the map."
Sadie was buried April 18 at Pine Hill Cemetery in Bowie. That is the day recognized each year by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists as National Columnists Day. Dave was instrumental in helping to create that day in 1995 as a way to call attention to the role of newspaper columnists in society. April 18 is the day that legendary columnist Ernie Pyle was killed in World War II.
Sadie's survivors include Karen; Dave; their children, Desiree, Jonathan and Austin; two cats, Terry Bradshaw and Anastasia; and grandparents, John and Joan Pasciutti of Keller.
Sadie the Psycho Dog, a retriever who belonged to Star-Telegram columnist Dave Lieber and his family, died of cancer this month at the Animal Clinic of Watauga. She was 9.