Not Just a Dog

I had to write this... Two nights ago I told my husband as we sat and enjoyed our fire pit grill that a dog was gonna get hit. Not sure why I said it, but I felt it. We live off a busy road see and as the random dogs barked I saw a dog getting hit yet again on our road. Of course we both thought to ourselves "I hope it is not one of our dogs"...
Today, Monday, my neighbor walked over with her dog Tater who had been struck earlier in the day by a green Toyota Tacoma. The hair stood up on the back of my neck. Tater looked fine, he should have been taken to the vet immediately but was not... so prayers for Tater... he is a small freight train so hopefully he will come through.
But it made me think of my dogs and how blessed we are that they are not people. They are better! This post is for Lucy. I have been needing to write something for her. We put her down April 4th at 2:30 after a short bout with Cancer. Bear with me because I need to say this so I can try and move on... The first time I knew anything was wrong was August of 2007. SHe had a cancerous mole removed from her chin. she recovered but was absolutely miserable from the anesthesia and post op stiches. I swore I would never do anything like that to her again. I knew at that point that it could be in other spots. That was the hardest thing I have done in my short life. I knew there was something possibly wrong but was not going to make her miserable trying to fix her for me, for us.
She hung in there for me... I hate to think about what was going on inside her. She showed none of it. She was such a good dog. I remember when I first brought her home and mom banished her to the basement(she really did need a bath). She quit whimpering only when I let her sleep snuggled against me.
I was jealous of all the dogs at Lake Wawasee that would bond off the pier after a ball, a stick or for their own amusment. We had a poodle. No offense Puds, but I really wanted a stick chasing, pier diving dog. Lucy was all that and proved it 10 years later as she almost pulled mom into the lake on a pontoon cruise.
She drove with me from IN to NC where I was to become an adult. She kept me warm when I had bronchitis, she growled at her reflection in the windows as a puppy, she let bunnies crawl on her(we had 3 at one point), she let cats sleep with her, she protected me on many a drive... she made it impossible to fish if she was anywhere around!
She was a beautiful creature... I watched our new puppy lie down in the sun today in the back yard and I could just see Lulu basking in the sun. The picture to the left was taken a few days before she passed. I am so thankful for the month of love and health we had with Lucy. They really do live in the moment. I am proud of myself for sticking to my guns about how to treat her. I wanted her last days with me to be as happy as our first. I knew she would tell me when it was time, she told me everything else.

SO Lucy was not just a dog. I know anyone who knew her or knew what she was to me will understand. She was my best friend during some of the most trying years of my life. Putting her down was really hard, but I am so glad that I listened to my heart because it was what Lucy would have wanted me to do. So here's to Princess LuLu the best damn Rottador ever. We miss you stinky.

Maybe it is harsh to open with my premonition of a dog being struck by a car... but it just made me stop and remember how fleeting our time really is and that you have to suck it all up and feel every bit of it... Thanks for listening or reading. Oh and if you have a pet and have chosen to care for it, be responsible. Have a vet and be ready to care for that pet.