A Very Good Friend

Cami

May 1999-November 2010

"It goes to show we can never tell the happiness in store when we bring home the dog nobody else wanted . . ."

Shortly after the death of my first dog, Camas, in October of 1999, I was ready for another one. Not finding the "right" dog at the local shelter, my dad and I drove up to a larger city about an hour north and checked our their shelters. I got to the county shelter about 30 minutes before they closed.

I had in mind that I wanted a puppy but due to a parvo outbreak in the area the shelter was refusing to release any puppies. With hardly anytime to look, I imagined that I would not find the right dog for me that day. Just when I had about given up, my dad said "Look at this one, she's part heeler (Camas had been a heeler), and she's the only dog not barking." I looked and I'm convinced I fell in love at first sight. She was very emaciated but calmly sitting further back in her run, looking a little unsure of her surroundings. I was immediately drawn to her apparently sweet demeanor, her pointy ears, and the freckles on her nose. Taking her out and talking to staff, I discovered that she had been picked up as a stray and not recovered by her family and that she was as sweet as she appeared. They thought she was about six months old. I had no time to adopt her that day as they were closing, but I was sure I wanted her, even in that short time (in comparison, it took me three six hour visits to decide which puppy I wanted from Erie's litter).

I had to return on Tuesday as the shelter was closed Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday, my entire family went so everyone could meet her. As the parent I lived with, my mom took care of all the adoption paperwork, but my dad actually bought her for me. I had to return again the next day to pick her up after her spay as the shelter wouldn't release dogs to homes in different counties without altering them first. And I brought her home.

And I was never sorry for one single minute.

Cami and I participated in 4H for years. She was excellent, winning many Champion and Reserve Champion ribbons in both obedience and showmanship. Cami was with me for high school and was part of my "project" to earn my State FFA Degree. She was a fantastic companion dog and older "sister" for the guide dog puppies. With her, I learned almost everything I know about dogs, and much of what I know about behavior. She was an excellent teacher, but I do feel so sorry for her that she fell to that role! I loved spending time with her; she was the sweetest dog whose favorite thing was to calmly spend time with you. She was polite beyond belief and loved everyone she met.

When I moved out of my mom's house and then later went on a mission and to school in Hawaii, I hoped that Cami would live long enough for me to graduate so I could spend more time with her. When I graduated last December, she was still doing great as I moved in with my mom.

Last June I took Cami and Jacoba to the vet for annual exams and rabies vaccinations. I had the vet check out some lumps I had found in Cami's neck. The vet aspirated them and tests showed that she had lymphoma. Everyone who knows me knows how much my dogs mean to me. I love that dog very much, but I do not believe in going broke to pay for chemotherapy that may give my dog six more months, and especially not with an 11.5 year old dog. I chose to put her on prednisone and nothing else. Her tumors shrunk, she ate well, loved walks, and playing, and was continuing to enjoy life. When I moved to Utah in August, she came with me and continued to do well.

About two weeks ago, she started slowing down a little bit and not always wanting to eat. Last Friday she became lame on one of her rear legs (we do not know if this was related to the cancer, the prednisone, or something else completely) and didn't want to walk if she could avoid it. Over the next several days, she progressively lost more mobility, didn't want to eat without much encouragement, and just in general wasn't very happy, not even getting up to greet me when I came home. A childhood friend who really wanted to see Cami was arriving for a visit on Thursday so I made the decision to wait to put Cami to sleep until Friday.

Yesterday morning I let her go. I miss her. She was a very good friend to me and a very good dog. I am so grateful I was able to spend the last year with her and be with her as she became too ill to go on. Most people spend thousands of dollars on chemo and hope for six months. I skipped the chemo and still had five months. What a blessing!

The picture at the top of my post is just before I took her to the vet. She doesn't look very happy; she looks tired. It's kind of sad, but helps me to know that I made the right decision. And she still looks cute.

Its hard to lose something you love so much. But for me at least, the best way to move through it is to . . . move. To keep doing things. So yesterday after I got home from the crematorium, I took the red dog for a run and then went to see Harry Potter (tickets had been purchased weeks before; otherwise I might not have). I'm going to be okay because I know that I did everything I could to make sure she knew I loved her. If she didn't know that, then no dog ever did.

"For one moment, our lives met-our souls touched." ~ Oscar Wilde

New Blog Address

Okay peeps, I want to change the URL on my blog to match the name. How do I do that? Do I create a new blog and then import all the posts from this one? If that is what I do, do I have to reformat the blog or will it import everything?

Or is there another, totally different, way easier method to do so?

EDIT: Coolness. Thanks to Ally I now know the easy way. So I'm changing the URL in a few days to (I hope) www.beautifulandtragic.blogspot.com.

It's Blogging Month

And also November so hopefully we'll see a new background and banner in the next few days!

I LOVE This Time of Year

Fall is fantastic, isn't it? I love the cooler weather and the rain. It's so homey. There is nothing more perfect this time of year than curling up in bed with hot cocoa and a good book- my current choice being Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as I'm getting ready for the movie release next month. Don't worry that I just finished it yesterday morning and started it again last night. I love the Christmas Season so much that it's hard to exactly put words to it, and Fall is the beginning of that special time of year, so there is just something special about it too.

So, what have I been up to? Well that question has a many faceted answer and none of them are particularly interesting and there are no pictures to go along with it. Lame, I know!

- I moved to Utah at the end of August. (Actually I do have one picture of this- Erie sitting in the car when I left at 5 am, but it's too much work to load just one picture).
- Started graduate school.
- Stayed with Erie's breeder. Erie was in doggie heaven with all the playtime.
- Drove back to Sacramento to pick up Cami.
- Moved into a new house.
- Showed Erie in the Farmington show. She won her class both days, but nothing else.
- Went to the Relief Society session of conference at the conference center.
- Did some homework.
- Observed some students and did some assessments. Knew I made the right choice as far as what I wanted to do and what to study.
- Tried to do some braille homework and cried because I made the wrong choice about what to study :)
- Loved on Cami. She's still hanging in there.
- Looked (am looking) for a new place to live.
- Showed Erie in the show in Carson City, Nevada. On Saturday she took Reserve to the Major (who happened to be her younger half-sister Selkie) but on Sunday she didn't even take her class :(
- Got behind on homework and am working to catch up on it.
- Loving the season.

And that is kind of it.

How are the rest of you enjoying this fantastic time of year?

Little Red Riding . . . Sheets?

[Erie under the covers on my bed with the sheet draped over her head like a hood and the blanket covering her back. She's looking at the camera.]

When Erie sleeps on my bed she usually sleeps under the covers, even when it's 95*. I don't know what she's thinking. Tonight she managed to get herself so wrapped up in them that it was hard for her to get out. When she finally freed her head, this is what she looked like as she looked up at me. Silly little red dog.

Tutorial: How to Get a Puppy off Your Bed

Step 1: You are moving. What can you get rid of so it doesn't have to be brought along?

Step 2: Oh! I know! Remember how you ordered that big, really cool, expensive bed for the dogs and you somehow ended up with two of them and had to put one in the garage because they just take up so much stinkin' space? Maybe you could get rid of that? You could even sell it and then you would have less stuff to move and more money. Good deal!

Step 3: Wait. Erie might like. Wonder if she'll be able to use it.

Step 4: Better let Erie try it. It might take you a few weeks to remember to let her.

Step 5: Get the bed out of the huge box it's being stored in in the garage. Set it up in the living room and grab some dog cookies.

Step 6: Show the cookies to Erie. Lift up the top of the cave bed and throw it in for Erie to get.

Step 7: Realize that you'll have to do a better job tossing in the cookie because all Erie had to do was stick her head in, not climb to the back.

Step 8: Throw a few more cookies in till Erie realizes how she's supposed to use the bed.

Step 9: Leave bed in the living room the rest of the day. Stare dazedly at your dog on said bed who is being much better behaved than normal as she doesn't want to vacate her position.

Step 10: Bedtime. Place bed in little, tiny, no-room-for-it-space in bedroom because you feel bad taking it from the Vizsla puppy.

Step 11: Go to bed. The puppy will not attempt to get on your bed again. Why bother? You have a hard, flat bed. She has a soft, cushy cave.

[Erie in her cave. She's not very deep in it, but the top part is over her back and part of her head. Her pink crate door is in the frame next to her and she is looking directly at the camera.]

[Zoomed in shot of the previous photo. Erie is more prominent.]

Be sure to try it out at home and let me know how it works for you!

Just Keep Swimming . . .

Erie has had several opportunities now to go swimming. And well, she's never done very well. Until this week!

[Erie just behind Rosie in the pool. Rosie has a ball in her mouth.]

A few weeks ago, we finally got her to go in to the pool of her own free will and choice by having her follow her brother, Charlie, but she didn't swim too much. She did a lot of standing on the top step and then jumping right back out and very, very minimal swimming.

[Erie mid-turn. Rosie turned faster than her and took her by surprise. She kinda reminds me of an otter.]

She played with Rosie this week and it took a little patience and some encouragement but she ended up following Rosie in the pool. And eventually she was playing in the pool. And then she was getting in even when Rosie didn't.

[Rosie in front again, still with the toy. They are right by the side of the pool and Erie is just stepping up onto the underwater ledge.]

She wasn't to keen on using the stairs either to get in or out. She dove in from the side, meaning she was fully immersed every time she got in. She also climbed out from the side ledge, quite a feat for a not-yet-very-large puppy. That probably contributed to her total exhaustion that night and the next day.

[Erie still swimming behind Rosie. She is just not as fast.]

Seriously, total exhaustion. The next day was the first time in the five months I've had Erie that I've had all three dogs loose in the house all day with nary a tie down, drag line, or baby gate insight. She was calm and collected and left the other dogs alone. I'm in love with exhausted Erie!

[Erie finally got the toy before Rosie. I threw it for Erie while Rosie was distracted.]

[Erie standing in the yard behind the pool, with a ball at her feet, just daring Rosie to come take it.]