From Hallway Trail...(Into the Light)

Did I mention a hallway trail? Ah yes, really it’s a form of a walker – you can’t keep a smart dog down – she will just find new ways to make it work. 

See the filthy trail along the wall about two feet up?  Yes, that dirty line on the white wall – we have several of them around the house they are in essence “Gunnie’s walkers”.  

Since she can’t actually use a walker – not having hands or walking upright and all, she has adapted the free space along the hallway walls (all of them) as her personal pacing areas.  

Walking is a bit of a feat lately, so in order to get any exercise, she props her hind quarters against the wall and walks back and forth.  Or into the kitchen, which just requires her to make a two foot spin before she hits the next wall for balance.   

Brilliant that old cattle dog is, with each new setback – she always found a way. 

Today we are going to dedicate this post to my baby girl, shortly she will be taking a trip into the light to be with our other cherished former pets.  I was going to post an old post of something funny she did in her younger days, but I decided to write a new one.  She has given us so much material – why should her last day stop that?

We made sure she had a great life these last eleven years – after the horrible first five she spent in a puppy mill chained to a toilet with her sister, beaten, broken, covered in open sores - with wood shoved under the skin in her foot.  

She’s been the easiest, sweetest, most trustworthy dog we have ever owned and she was an excellent hostess at all our parties and gatherings - escorting people to their cars when their evening was over.   

About five years back we had a little foster baby, when he was learning to walk, she was right there next to him – helping him stand, catching his wobbles and letting him take handfuls of hair or grabbing her ears for balance.  She never let him down – he could crash on her as hard as he needed and she would just support his fall.  All on her own - out of her sweet motherly instincts, we never worried.  She was also a great snot cleaner!

We had thought she was done last October, but she always found a way to adapt – so we adapted with her and gave her whatever she needed.  The dog sitter said she had nine lives – I think she had more.

 

So here’s to you my beautiful puppy dog – may you never lose your tennis ball in heaven, now that you will be able to run again!!  You will be missed every single day…