Bob M
New member
Sad news brings me to post my first message in a long while: I got a call today that I've been dreading, telling me that our Abbie's daughter Eleanor had just passed away, a month and a few weeks short of her ninth birthday. She'd been diagnosed with cancer early this summer, but seemed well and full of life until the very end. My wife even saw Ellie yesterday and remarked that while did seem to tire quickly, the sweet girl still seemed full of fun, making a huge, happy fuss over the visit, and performing all her tricks (and she knew many!) with enthusiasm.
Apparently things took a drastic turn for the worse during the night, and her people took her to the vet this morning to help her across the bridge.
Eleanor had the most wonderful life a dog could ask for. She and her human papa were inseparable-- he took her absolutely everywhere, from his morning walks to the coffee shop, to his social work practice, where she sat in on his appointments. Everyone in town seemed to know her, and more than once, walking my own Newfs, strangers would stop and ask, "Do you know Eleanor up in Bayfield?" It was always a satisfaction to answer, "Yes, I delivered her."
And in a supreme, sad irony, with the loss of our beloved brown Ernestine in April, this means that our brain-damaged Mary is the last of the Thanksgiving puppies. (For those unfamiliar with their story, it's here: The Thanksgiving Puppies.) The "defective" pup who was not supposed to survive has outlived every one of her brothers and sisters.
What a strange world. How lucky for us humans that there are dogs to enrich our lives, even if their time with us is all too brief.
Bob
Apparently things took a drastic turn for the worse during the night, and her people took her to the vet this morning to help her across the bridge.
Eleanor had the most wonderful life a dog could ask for. She and her human papa were inseparable-- he took her absolutely everywhere, from his morning walks to the coffee shop, to his social work practice, where she sat in on his appointments. Everyone in town seemed to know her, and more than once, walking my own Newfs, strangers would stop and ask, "Do you know Eleanor up in Bayfield?" It was always a satisfaction to answer, "Yes, I delivered her."
And in a supreme, sad irony, with the loss of our beloved brown Ernestine in April, this means that our brain-damaged Mary is the last of the Thanksgiving puppies. (For those unfamiliar with their story, it's here: The Thanksgiving Puppies.) The "defective" pup who was not supposed to survive has outlived every one of her brothers and sisters.
What a strange world. How lucky for us humans that there are dogs to enrich our lives, even if their time with us is all too brief.
Bob
