Dogster

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Sweet as Sugar

until we meet again

We had to let you go a year ago today, but you will never be gone. You may be gone from this earth, but never from our hearts and family. Most of my memories of you are happy and funny, but today all I can remember are those pleading eyes. The eyes that said “Please mom, I have had enough. Please don’t make me suffer.” You went with grace and dignity. You did not whine or whimper, but just pleaded with those big brown eyes, and laid your head in my arms. I cry as I write this, yet I am happy that you must be running, and jumping, and playing, at the bridge. I’m sending my love until we meet again…….

Happy Birthday Sweet Angel

Happy Birthday to my sweet Sugar Danielle. It doesn’t seem right that we spend this birthday apart, after celebrating 12 of them together. You came to us at 6 or 7 weeks old, and made our lives so much better for it. We will still celebrate the day of your birth, just in a different way. You have been gone from us just shy of a year, and I still look for you in front of the door. On one hand it seems you were just here yesterday, and on the other hand it seems I have not seen you in a lifetime. Just know that you were, and are, loved as a main part of our family.

Adopt 09 Contest

My daughter found Sugar on a busy highway in Arkansas. She stopped, took Sugar off the highway, and waited for someone to come looking for her. It did not happen. We believe the little ball of white fluff was sent to us to squash that evil demon we know as depression. We had lost our German Shepard just one month earlier, and were still coping with that. I had fought depression the prior 2 or 3 years, and my husband was lost without Rebel. My daughter thought life was over when she lost him. I had demanded that no more dogs be brought home, I just couldn’t take losing another one. Well, that was plain selfish.

Sugar came with an attitude that would melt your heart in the first 30 seconds, and let you know who was in charge with the next 30 seconds! My heart problems were very evident at that time, and when I was having a spell, she would not leave my lap, not even for food. When I was feeling well, she was bouncing, and running, and playing “come fetch me”. She was so slick and fast, that she could escape anything in a blink. We would chase her, with her looking back the whole time, to make sure we were still on track. Then she would stop and wait on us to catch up. Just as you would reach for her, I swear she would smile, and bolt like lightning! It was her favorite game, and our best exercise!

She lived through 10 grandchildren. That, in itself, is a feat. She was very patient with the new dogs as they came along, but never missed an opportunity to let them know who she was. By this time, she was nicknamed “The Godmother”. She never nipped at anyone or anything, just gave the newbie dogs a stern talking to if they invaded her space against her wishes. The others always followed her lead, whether it be what and when to eat, or when to bark at strangers, or when to go to bed. She was always the leader.

When her final days came, she was still the leader. You could read in her eyes what she was feeling, and I knew when she told me it was time to say good-bye. We spent one more night together, both of us awake every second, trying to get everything said, and also silently enjoying the cold, quiet night. She insisted we sit in her favorite spot outside and watch the stars. I wonder, did she see God? Did she see angels? The next morning my husband carried her to the car where my daughter had made a bed. We very carefully took her through the doors to the vet for one last visit. I held her in my arms as she took her final breath, and I swear to you, she smiled. She smiled just like she did when she played “come fetch me”. She smiled as she won the final game.

Our family will never be the same, Our home will never be the same. I think as I go through these heart problems again, that she is here with me. I can almost feel her. Almost…