Christopher and I were watching the movie All Dogs Go To Heaven the other day and I reminisced about 3 special dogs in my life. I know they too earned their right in heaven by the faithfully service that they gave to me. At this time I would like to pay tribute to 3 of those dogs who were faithful companions while watching over me during my deafness. This is a little bit of their stories.
This is the only good focused picture I could find of Patches. This is Suzanne with him and with as young as she is you can tell how old this picture is. Patches was a Christmas gift to Donald when he was in first grade. Patches was a roamer and very hard to keep at home. I would hear stories from people that he was down in the dairy and I knew when he went there because he always came back smelling like the dairy. Always called for bath time. He was also seen crossing Hwy 9 and over into a housing area there. He was one for you leave me alone and I'll leave you alone. Bother me and I'll show my strength. Thank goodness he never hurt anyone but there were plenty afraid of him. As I lost the final part of my hearing he became my protector. He stayed by my side and slept by me all the time I was down with meneries attacks. When he became old and developed problems in his hips, we had to start holding up his back legs and taking him to the bathroom. My heart ached for him. It took me a long time to decided that we needed to put him down. I studied, read, prayed and finally talked with a vet in Diane's Mt. Vernon ward about putting animals down. It was one of those hardest decision I had to make . I drove him up to Mt Vernon and with having said our last good byes I headed home and while driving there was a sweet calm to come over me and I knew that I had done him right. He had faithfully served me well and there was no more reason for him to suffer any longer.
Nikki was my service hearing dog thus my constant companion. She went everywhere with me and helped me out with not being able to hear. A couple things about her. She was gentle and kind, afraid others and I had to stop taking her with me every where I went. I did a lot of visiting at schools for I was on the school board and the kids wanted to pet her. She did not like the fact that I left her and the first time I left her at home she showed her retaliation by jumping up into the middle of my bed and wetting on it. Not funny. I then had Donald make sure that he took careful watch on her when I was gone and she became a second companion to Donald. In her later years which were not close to the amount of years a boarder collie is expected to live she started chasing Rich's practice golf balls, the plastic ones with holes in the them. She really chewed on them and he still has three of them hanging from his desk. She was much loved by Rich also. Nikki started loosing weight, not being as mobile and by the time I took her to the vet her lungs were full one 3/4 and the other 1/2. I had to make a decision again. This time the answer was easier. The hard part was, would the vet come to my house. After calling him he said he would. Nikki hated going to the vet I just could not put her through that anxiety during this time. Christina, Suzanne and myself were here with Nikki to the end. It was a very spiritual experience. We all love and miss her. She died two years ago Christmas of lung cancer.
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