Tonight will be... [View all]

the first time in 57 years that unless I was not home myself, there will be only one dog in bed with me.
Early this AM, I called my friend, Grace, to say my sweet Yorkie shadow was very ill and need to go to the vet. Grace alerted the vet, then came to get her.
The vet saw and admitted her immediately, saying to come back at 4:30.
At 2:40, my friend called me to say the vet had called her (as he knows I do not hear well) to say Eden had peacefully passed away. She and her husband went to get her and bring her home.
They brought her into my bedroom for me to hold and kiss her one last time. After holding her still warm body, I laid it on her pillow beside mine and let her half-brother smell her; he seem to just 'know'.
Husband went outside to dig a grave beside my last 3 Yorkies while Grace and I went into the den where I placed her in 'her' spot on the sofa and her brother took his place on the pillows at the other end.
I did manage to get to the 'cemetery' and be the one to lay her to rest but required help getting back.
After getting me settled in the den with a cup of coffee, Grace took Henry (a #4 lb. Yorkie who never goes outside of the wood fence due to a previous hawk scare) outside. He headed for the open gate, walked across the parking lot, then down to the end of the tree line and stopped, looked down toward the cemetery, laid down and stared, got up and headed back to the house. Again, he seemed to know.
Over the years, I have lived with 14 dogs; she, at 12 y.o. is the youngest I have ever lost, including my Irish Setters whose lives are usually shorter than small dogs. (One of the Setters lived to be almost 18.) The Chihuahua was 21. I was not prepared to lose her.
All but 4 of my dogs have died in my arms. One of the four died cuddled in bed, with his best-bud, my housemate who cleaned his butt occasionally but never gave him a bath or trimmed his nails. Edie did not get ...
Not one of my hairy kids can ever be replaced, but, I did need to fill the empty spot where his/her food bowl sat and I got another dog. This time I will have to remove the bowl and tonight sleep with only one dog in my bed. Tomorrow, I will have to deal with my shadow not following every step I take.

One last story: I have one of those backs that 'goes out' on occasion and can cause incredible and debilitating pain. One night, I awakened with an aching back and could not get comfortable in my extremely hard bed - I had to have something harder. Got up and threw a pillow and quilt on the floor and there I fell asleep. Awake in the morning, the only thing on my mind was, thank heavens, there was no emergency where the rescue squad had to be called as they would find me on the floor and my four dogs on the bed. (2 Setters, an American Eskimo and a Silky Terrier)