by Gloria Weltz
We hadn't had a dog during our working, family raising, hectic years.
When I suffered the loss of my father, my husband finally said, "oh, go and get a puppy -- to help you through this." Before the day was over, I found her, at the shelter nearby. After the required probation period, we brought her home.......so chilled, so frightened, so funny looking with her ears too big for her body 'tilll she had a chance to grow. She gave us 200% for fourteen and a half years, never asking for anything until the day last week, when she was so sick. Yes, she had been failing -- slowly -- her arthritic joints slowing her down; her deafness causing her to be underfoot unknowingly; her incontinence bothering her even more than those of us cleaning up. That's when she told me "I'm old and I'm tired -- please take me out to Dr. Jim and let me have my well earned rest." And so we did -- October 17, 2002 Goodbye, our most precious Babe. We'll see you at the Rainbow Bridge before too long.