11/19/10

It has been a sad day around here.

Our sweet dog, Boogie, affectionately known as "Boogen", had to be put to sleep this morning.

Steve and I reminisced about her this morning. Allow me to do so here:

I'll be the first to say I am not a "dog person" but Boogie was definitely the exception. While I didn't love all over her as some would, I still loved her dearly nonetheless.

Steve found her around a year after we were married. She was a couple to three months old and he found her walking around where he used to work. Someone had thrown her out because she had the mange. He brought her home and we took her to the vet to get help. While getting rid of the mange, she developed Parvo from her immune system being compromised while at the vet... but lived through it. The doctor's told Steve if she lived through Parvo, which normally kills dogs, then she was a tough one for sure.

That doctor wasn't lying.

Boogie was always healthy, strong-willed and WILD when she was younger. She thought the whole world was her yard. We put up one of those invisible fences and she would tuck her chin and run through it never stopping. She could also uproot a corkscrew leash holder that was supposedly able to hold a German Shepherd.... we saw her running through the yard with the corkscrew still attached to her leash.

She used to always like to go find things and roll around in smelly stuff when Steve would let her out of the pen.

She loved life.

As she got older she became hard of hearing.
Her eyes became dimmer.
She got arthritis.
She got gray hair.
She got less wild and more settled.
She became more loved.

For the last year we have been able to have her out of the pen all of the time because she could be trusted now to stay at home. :)

We thoroughly enjoyed her last year with us. It has been so sweet to come home and look for "Boogen."

Last night, when we saw how much she had gone downhill in just a few short days, and how she was suffering, it was all we could take.

We had to go out at 2:30 this morning and help her back onto her pillow. Steve covered her with his coat to keep her warm.

Through tears flowing, I stroked her nose and told her I loved her.

As we all gathered around the back of the truck where Steve had placed her this morning to take her to the Vet, it was quite sad. We knew she was just plain old tired for fighting to live for so long. She was no longer the Boogie we once knew. We knew it was time.

We all went our separate ways with tears flowing. Steve said she went very peacefully. He buried her in the backyard and we will have to make her a marking stone.

It will be so sad driving up this afternoon and not seeing her waiting for us.

This was taken last Christmas

We love you, Boogen!