Somewhere in the great plan of evolution, canines came to be with humans. Humans like them so much, we modified them into selective breeds, and so it was over 800 hundred or so years ago a little stout hearted earth dog was associated with my ancestors in Scotland. The Scottish Terrier, a independent but loyal to a fault friend...which aptly describes my Peewee.
Friday evening she was not her usual spunky self, but I figured everyone has a bad day, we see what the morning brings. Yesterday all mornig she lay on the floor by the fireplace, and when I put on her leash, she just looked at me, a far cry from how she had for the previous 12 years jumped to her feet, shaken herself and then looked at the door to say lets go...
I took her to the vet, who said she had an enlarged spleen, and was sent to a specialist hospital nearby. They did tests (blood, MRI,ultrasound) and reported the bad news to me and HB; she had cancer, which had spread from her spleen to liver, and there were a number of small tumors through out her 12 year body...yet she had seemed so vibrant only the day before I protested; yes, dogs are very stoic, and by the time they say something, it sometimes is too late. Our options were to take her home to die, most likely in about 72 hours; surgery to remove what they could and then chemo, which might extend her life 6 months, or the ultimate decision for a pet guardian, end of life with dignity. After spending some time with her outside under a tree, we decided she really was at the end, and I waited in the car as HB took her in. I was crying(still am) and he got in the car, without saying a word, and drove home. On a farm road about 5 miles from home, he simply said "I have a f%&^ing hole in my heart, I feel like I just lost my best friend" and we both cried.
We had gotten her as a puppy, and she was a little terror, but at about 6 months old, she figured out how to get over the small fence the separated her from the rest of us, and we would find her in our bedroom in the morning.
We started taking her on our family vacations, and by this year she had been in 6 states and Canada...and she had done her canine duty to smell the ocean from Canada to Mexico, and likely piddled on every beach between here and there...she had stood in the snow in Sierra, Cascades and the Rockies, in the desert of Arizona, and lived a good life for a little dog...but she had been my constant companion, sitting by me at night as I wrote on my computer, or watched TV...but she was just as at home supervising HB do chores or work outside...We miss her so.
God Bless You and Keep you sweet baby, we love you...
I know some readers will likely thing various things, like she was just a dog, and i feel sorry for you...because a house is not a home without a dog...because as musch as we may not want to, we love them, as they do us...
Canice
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