When we decided to move to our home here in Virginia from New Jersey back in 2002, I wanted to get a puppy but Bob said we had Kyra and Tucker and they were enough. That didn't set to well with me and I hounded him until he gave in. It was ironic that he had made a friend who was a breader and his Anny was pregnant and due to give birth in June 2003..and she did. Sandy called Bob and said Anny had just had 6 black and 1 yellow lab puppies and if we were still interested, give them 2 weeks and we could then come down and see the pups. I was ecstatic! When the time came, we went down to see the puppies, I sat on the blanket waiting sort of patiently for them to crawl over to me - finally, one did, I held her and she was the one. We named her Abby. On our way home, I said to Bob, Kyra and Tucker won't want to be bothered with a puppy as they were much older so I suggested we get another one..it took a lot of persuading but he gave in and the following week, when we went back to see Abby we saw 'the runt' of the litter crawling around, Bob picked her up, hugged her and we got our second puppy and named her Ebony. When it was time for the pups to be weaned from their mother, Sandy and his wife, Hope, brought them to our house. Well, that was the beginning of all kinds of turmoil, fun and so on. Abby was basically the leader of the pack - wherever you saw her you saw Ebony. It took a little time but then Kyra and Tucker became friends with them. Now comes the stories of the pups as they grew.
It started off when we had the yard landscaped - both pups thought it was the greatest thing to dig up all the plants and bushes and run around the yard with them. Of course, we had to have them all replaced the second time but that didn't stop them, they continued and then it got so expensive having someone do it, we decided to re-landscape ourselves...haha, another joke. As fast as Bob started planting, that's how fast they both tore everything up, along with chewing all the corners of the cabinets, the door frames, the deck spindles..anything they could get their mouths on...of course, again, they were pups so they weren't really punished. Finally, as they got a little older, Kyra was chewing a rawhide - Kyra was very docile and bothered no one - Abby wanted it so she went over to Kyra to take it. Kyra growled the first time and Abby backed away, Abby went back again and Kyra barked..Abby backed away but tried the third time and that was the end of her ever trying to take something away from either Kyra or Tucker - Kyra bit her and she went off yipping, we thought she bit her tongue off but she bit her on the nose, nothing bad but enough to let Abby know who was boss and it sunk in..don't try and take anything from the older ones.
As time went on, we had so much fun with the puppies and the other 2 furries...we couldn't imagine our lives without them. Then sadness came upon us. We lost Kyra to a brain tumor and 2 1/2 years later we lost Tucker. It was such a sad time for our family but the puppies were always there to brighten our days. Then, the real sadness came upon us.
We noticed Abby having a problem walking so we took her to the vet and at that time, he attributed it to a mild tear in the medial meniscus but she kept getting worse. It was at that time, we decided to take her for an MRI in Raleigh, NC - 4 hours from where we lived. The the bad news came - after the MRI was done, the doctor gave us the disc to take to Dr. French, our vet, for his preview. When we got the phone call to come to his office, we knew it wasn't good news - and it wasn't. Abby had developed an inoperable tumor on her spinal cord, which caused to her be paralyzed from 'the waist' down. There was nothing that could be done. She was only 5 1/2 years old - a baby. So, we came home, called Dr. Schwabe, a holistic vet that did acupuncture treatments on Kyra and Tucker so she said for us to bring Abby in along with the reports and the disc. After reviewing both, she contacted a colleague who expressed the desire to see Abby and see if there was something that he could do. We made the appointment and went to Winston-Salem, NC - another 4 hour plus ride for us but we didn't care. Of course, we really didn't get our hopes up but we did pray for a miracle. Unfortunately, the news he gave us was either he could do exploratory surgery, clean up the are where the tumor was but no guarantees..she could be totally paralyzed or even die on the table, something neither Bob or myself wanted to hear. The other option was to leave her the way she was and wait it out but making sure she had quality of life, not quantity. That is what we chose to do. So we brought her home, we carried her out with a harness under her back side so she could do her 'thing'. Dr. Schwabe had called with some good news - she had, what we call, a doggie wheelchair - so this way Abby could run and romp with her sister and the wheels acted as her back legs. She was in heaven - she was free. She went for walks and when we opened the pool in May 2010, she wanted in it and nothing would stop her. The life jacket we used for her was not good - she wanted no part of it, just let me be free she would tell us so that's what we did. She and Ebony were in the pool constantly and then the fateful day came - July 15, 2010 - she went in the pool, Bob threw the ball, Abby retrieved it and she did it twice more. After that, she wanted no part of swimming after the ball. Bob got her out of the pool, dried her off, brought her inside and a couple of hours later, she looked up at us crying in pain and that's when we knew it was the end. As much pain and sadness went thru our minds and bodies, to look at her in pain, we just could not let her suffer. We called Dr. French and he said to bring her in..we did and we stayed by her side til the end, hugging her and kissing her and telling her it'll be alright - we'll get thru this pain, we'll take care of her sister for her and when the time comes, we'll all be together.
There were many, many other cute and loving things Abby did throughout her short life which we will never, ever forget and neither will anyone that had ever come in contact with her. She was a loving and wonderful pet....she is and will always be sorely missed and loved even more and lastly, she will be in our hearts forever .... and a day.