I had two boys and wanted a girl but we decided two was enough. So when Blu came into my life I finally had my daughter. She was a Cairn terrier mix. No matter how many dogs we had she was always the alpha dog. When we went for wlaks in desert or moutains, she was lead dog,but if she couldn't see me she would come back and make sure I was OK, then take off again. She would bury her bones and then go dig them up when she wanted them. I could never figure out how she knew where they were.

We had 18 years together, but she never acted old, she acted like a year old puppy. Then one day, she just could not go out the step to the back yard, I had to carry her down to do her business and carry her back up. My son took her to the vet and he said that she had many tumors in her abdomen and that we should consider putting her to sleep.

I was a mess. I knew I had to do it but of course did not want to do so. Well she took the decision out of my hands. Blu always loved the water. She even learned how to clim a ladder to get to an above ground pool we had in FL, so that if we went out we had to take the ladder down, just as if we had kids. In CA, we had an in ground pool that she used.

Well the next morning, while I was trying to decide when to do this, I had held her and played with her. Then she was gone to play with other dogs and I went on internet to find a place to have her cremated and returned to me. I called her when I was done and she didn't come. I searched the house as she was unable to get down the steps the day before and could not find her. Then I looked out front porch and saw her floating in the pool.

I don't know how she did it, nut she went down the back steps around the house to the pool for a final swim and took the decision out of my hands. My baby was gone and I did not have to do it and she was doing something she loved.

She will travel with me for the rest of my life and be mixed with our ashes when the time comes and we will be together again. I know she and my husband are together waiting for me at the Rainbow bridge and I miss them both terribly.