1984-2000
We got Lady from the pound when she was a puppy for our son when he was 2 years old. There were a lot of other dogs there but for some reason, I came home and told my husband about her and he went back and got her. She was scraggly and dirty and had been abused. We could tell by the way she cowered whenever we came near hear. For the first couple of weeks, my husband had to carry her from one room to another. She was too afraid to move. When we came near her, she would pee on the floor.
But after much patience and love, we soon earned her trust and love. She followed my son every where he went and we always knew when he would leave the yard. She would start barking up a storm. After we had had her for 2 years, I told my husband we needed to get a watch dog. She was too friendly. He was going out of town for a couple of months and I didn't think Lady would be too good of a protector while he was gone. One night around midnight, I was sitting at the kitchen table when I heard the door knob turning. Lady went from one room to another in one leap and landed by the front door. She started growling and barking. Whoever was there ran off. She stayed in front of that door for the entire evening until the sun came up with her ears perked up.
The next day we had found out that someone had broken into a house up the street and tied up the owners and locked them in a closet. This same person murdered someone else in the course of a robbery a day later. I never knew whether or not it was the same person but from that day on Lady became our heroine and I never doubted her watch dog abilities or bravery again.
She was treated like a queen. She wanted to sleep on the bed, she got to sleep on the bed for the rest of her life and she always had the place of honor in our lives. Over the years, Lady became a trusted and loving member of the family. Even though we had other animals, Lady always held that special place in our hearts. She became the matriarch to our other animals and it was her job to keep them in line.
As the years went on and Lady grew older and older, she started losing her hearing and her sight. She also developed arthritis real bad and could no longer get up on the bed. She went threw a period of a few years when she had seizures too. Maybe we should have had her put to rest but we just didn't have the heart. We didn't want to lose her. We just kept her home and tried to keep her as comfortable as possible.
Every year we would keep saying that we didn't think she would be with us much longer but every year she just seemed to hang in there. She didn't move as fast as she used to and she seemed to hear only what she wanted to hear but she was still our trusting, loving, loyal "Lady Bug." One night she was laying on the kitchen floor looking at me with these sad eyes. I had a feeling then that it wouldn't be much longer. She wanted to go outside and when we went to get her the next morning, my husband found her dead in her doghouse.
She had just gone outside and died a peaceful death in her sleep. She was so tired and we know it was time but we had her for only 16 short years and we miss her very much. Lady is no longer suffering. Only those she left behind continue to hurt.
Dear Lady:
Thank you for 16 years of loyalty, friendship, and unconditional love. We watched you grow from a small, scared puppy to a wise, motherly adult. Thank you for the protection and enjoyment you gave us over the years. No one will ever take your place and we won't even try.
May you always have sunshine, bunnies and butterflies to chase, green grass, and the companionship of your best friend, Torpedo, who also went to Dogstar much too early and is waiting at the gate for you so that you can play and romp with him like you used too.
Love, Dad, Mom, Sean and Nikki.