THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: The tail wags, the love, the messes, and everything in between — once again

So now, in a little cabinet in the kitchen next to the sink, I have a bag with some leftover dog food. 

In a cupboard to the right of the stove is an opened bag of doggie treats, with a few remaining.  

On the counter next to the microwave is a container with mini doggie biscuits. Because, well, you can never have enough doggie treats. 

Back in the same cupboard as the doggie treats are a few bigger doggie biscuits, wrapped in a little sandwich bag. 

Back in the day, when you went through drive-thru — banks, fast food, whatever — they often offered your dog a treat. 

I remember going through the drive-thru at a bank in Spokane sometime around 1980 with my dog Casey — a wiener dog, naturally — and the teller gave her a biscuit. 

That tradition carried on to my current bank up until a few years ago.  

First my wiener dogs Kenzie and Bella, and then just Bella after Kenzie passed a few years ago — looked forward to joining me on a trip to the bank, and getting a treat. 

A couple of years ago, when the bank said it couldn't give out treats anymore, I bought some big biscuits and packed them with me whenever we headed to the bank. 

The dogs never knew the difference.  

All they knew was that after the transaction at the drive-thru window, I would pull forward and stop the car, the biscuits would somehow appear and they would eagerly go to work on them. 

These days, the dog food sits uneaten. 

The remaining few biscuits are still wrapped up in the cupboard. 

The water dish is dry. 

Bella took her last breath one Sunday afternoon last month. She was 16. 

I KNOW, we've been through this emotional wringer before.

You go to the place where wiener dogs are available, you fall in love with them, and you enjoy the heck out of them for years ... until eventually they get old and they break your heart. 

And you vow to never put yourself through that miserable sobfest again. 

Besides, you try to convince yourself you won't miss coming home and finding a little "accident" in the living room, or kitchen, or wherever. 

But now, a few weeks later, I kinda miss opening up the door, seeing a wiener dog right behind it, waiting for me, careful not to bip her in the snout with the door, then noticing a pile of poop in front of the TV, waiting for me to clean up. 

And then, after some more time has passed and you figure you're done moping, you hear about more adorable wiener dogs who need a new home ... 

YEARS AGO, after the downtown branch of my bank near my work closed shortly after COVID-19, I started going to the bank near my house. 

Since I went before I left for work, I took my dogs with me through the drive-thru — first Kenzie and Bella, then just Bella. 

Sometimes the teller noticed, and mentioned something about their cuteness. Because why wouldn't they? 

Anyway, a couple of years ago after I broke my leg, my wonderful sister handled my banking for a few months, while I remained home and acted incapacitated. 

A few months later, after I was able to fold myself into my car again, I was out and about running errands, and decided to stop by my bank on the way home. 

My crutches were in the back seat, well in sight through the teller's window. 

I thought they might wonder where I'd been all this time. 

But no ... 

"Where's your dog?" the lady asked. 

So each time after that, Bella made the trip with me through the drive-thru at the bank. 

Until this past trip. 

BACK TO that leftover dog food I mentioned earlier. 

And the doggie treats. 

And the biscuits Bella — and Kenzie, before her — munched on after going through the drive-thru at the bank. 

My first thought was, I think I'm going to hang on to them for a little while longer. 

But after what happened in Spokane a couple weeks ago ... 

Maybe there's some other dogs who could use a good meal. 

Compliments of Bella. 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.