Once again I come to you all with a different subject other than life as a PK. Life has a certain way of playing tricks on you. I do promise I'll get to the subject of PK's at some point but this time I wanted to share with you about our little dog. Like the saying goes, you don't realize what you have until it's gone. Indulge me as you read about our little dog Sassy who came into our lives 14 years ago.
We moved into the house we're in now in 2003 and of course right away the kids started asking me when can we get a dog. In all honesty, and please don't hate me, but I've never really been a dog person. It's not that I don't like dogs. I do prefer them over cats however Garfield was my favorite cat of all time. But I digress. During my childhood we had a total of 4 dogs. I can tell you all about them. I don't remember the name of our first dog but apparently I had one when I was a baby. The dog I do fondly remember was our pure bred Siberian Husky named Snowy. Oh how I loved that animal but that in and of itself is a whole other blog post. Well one evening as my father was watering the front lawn (this is the mid 70's folks before sprinklers were popular) he let Snowy play out front. Dogs, as you know, like to explore so before you know it he's all the way down the block and completely out of sight. I honestly don't remember if my folks looked very hard for him but since he was a pure bred and not tagged no doubt someone else gladly took him in. Snowy was out of our lives for good. That one hurt.
Skip ahead to the 80's, after we moved to Oxnard, we went through 2 more puppies. One was a St. Bernard my uncle gave us and another dog someone in our church gave us. Since church was usually the priority back in those days, we just weren't home enough to care for the dogs properly so we returned them to their owners thus ending any hopes of having pets in our home.
A few of my friends, and my unofficial therapist, have said that may have tainted my thinking of dogs hence not being a dog person. That may be true but I'll let my therapist decide on that one. Well I certainly didn't want to deny my kids that chance due to my failed pet ownership skills. So when the kids asked me over and over again when they can get a dog I finally relented but on one condition, I will not purchase one but if someone offers us a free one we'll take it. Secretly I was hoping that wouldn't happen but of course God has a sense of humor so lo and behold our friends dog had a litter of long haired chihuahuas and Hailey took her pick. August 2004, Sassy came into our lives. The kids were ecstatic and of course making them happy is what makes me happy. All pets can certainly bring us all joy and happiness because they just want to be loved and their love to us is unconditional. I'm sure I won't get an argument on that. We truly loved that little dog.
Unfortunately the thing about pets is they don't live as long as adults. We don't know what illness she contracted but during the weekend of July 20th Sassy started throwing up. That Friday evening she seemed fine and was comfortable and even slept well through the night. Sadly the next morning she passed here at our house. I'd like to think we gave Sassy a good life in those 14 years. Yes she annoyed me from time to time. Who hasn't been upset with their pets right? They really do become family members so of course it's natural to treat them like one of your own. As much as it pains me that she passed on, I am happy she passed at home instead of us having to decide what route to take with her at a vet's office. She was certainly a part of our lives for 14 years but as a friend of mine said, we were her entire life. That really put it into perspective.
I'm sure as you read this those of you who have lost pets can empathize. It's not easy. It's been almost three weeks now since her passing but I still wait for her to follow me outside to start the BBQ grill. I still open the front door slowly when I come home not wanting to hit her head knowing she's right there waiting for me. I still watch my step to make sure I haven't stepped on one of her many accidents. I still walk to the kitchen looking for the treat jar to give her a snack. I'm sure you all have similar stories. Time will definitely heal all wounds but she will not be forgotten as she was the first pet I had from birth until death. Farewell Sassy.
We moved into the house we're in now in 2003 and of course right away the kids started asking me when can we get a dog. In all honesty, and please don't hate me, but I've never really been a dog person. It's not that I don't like dogs. I do prefer them over cats however Garfield was my favorite cat of all time. But I digress. During my childhood we had a total of 4 dogs. I can tell you all about them. I don't remember the name of our first dog but apparently I had one when I was a baby. The dog I do fondly remember was our pure bred Siberian Husky named Snowy. Oh how I loved that animal but that in and of itself is a whole other blog post. Well one evening as my father was watering the front lawn (this is the mid 70's folks before sprinklers were popular) he let Snowy play out front. Dogs, as you know, like to explore so before you know it he's all the way down the block and completely out of sight. I honestly don't remember if my folks looked very hard for him but since he was a pure bred and not tagged no doubt someone else gladly took him in. Snowy was out of our lives for good. That one hurt.
Skip ahead to the 80's, after we moved to Oxnard, we went through 2 more puppies. One was a St. Bernard my uncle gave us and another dog someone in our church gave us. Since church was usually the priority back in those days, we just weren't home enough to care for the dogs properly so we returned them to their owners thus ending any hopes of having pets in our home.
A few of my friends, and my unofficial therapist, have said that may have tainted my thinking of dogs hence not being a dog person. That may be true but I'll let my therapist decide on that one. Well I certainly didn't want to deny my kids that chance due to my failed pet ownership skills. So when the kids asked me over and over again when they can get a dog I finally relented but on one condition, I will not purchase one but if someone offers us a free one we'll take it. Secretly I was hoping that wouldn't happen but of course God has a sense of humor so lo and behold our friends dog had a litter of long haired chihuahuas and Hailey took her pick. August 2004, Sassy came into our lives. The kids were ecstatic and of course making them happy is what makes me happy. All pets can certainly bring us all joy and happiness because they just want to be loved and their love to us is unconditional. I'm sure I won't get an argument on that. We truly loved that little dog.
Unfortunately the thing about pets is they don't live as long as adults. We don't know what illness she contracted but during the weekend of July 20th Sassy started throwing up. That Friday evening she seemed fine and was comfortable and even slept well through the night. Sadly the next morning she passed here at our house. I'd like to think we gave Sassy a good life in those 14 years. Yes she annoyed me from time to time. Who hasn't been upset with their pets right? They really do become family members so of course it's natural to treat them like one of your own. As much as it pains me that she passed on, I am happy she passed at home instead of us having to decide what route to take with her at a vet's office. She was certainly a part of our lives for 14 years but as a friend of mine said, we were her entire life. That really put it into perspective.
I'm sure as you read this those of you who have lost pets can empathize. It's not easy. It's been almost three weeks now since her passing but I still wait for her to follow me outside to start the BBQ grill. I still open the front door slowly when I come home not wanting to hit her head knowing she's right there waiting for me. I still watch my step to make sure I haven't stepped on one of her many accidents. I still walk to the kitchen looking for the treat jar to give her a snack. I'm sure you all have similar stories. Time will definitely heal all wounds but she will not be forgotten as she was the first pet I had from birth until death. Farewell Sassy.
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