O fer the luv o’ dog!

Want to say first Poppy is still alive and kicking – this is not an obituary, I just wanted to write about our girl!

The bond between man (human!) and dog goes back for centuries but our particular bond with this pooch goes back relatively few years to May 2, 2000.  She was already 3 years old and had been abandoned in her back yard when her people (I use the term loosely) moved and didn’t take her with them.  A neighbor brought her into the animal shelter, and Russ just happened to go by for a visit the day she was brought in.  It was love at first sight and after the required waiting period, we brought her home.  While she was still in “jail” Russ brought donuts to the workers each day when he went to visit Poppy.  He wanted them to treat her right!  One fella finally asked what donut shop he owned and Russ has to ‘fess up to his ploy.

It’s been 13 wonderful years with Poppy so far.  She has been the perfect travel dog, always willing to go anywhere, any time.







She’s gone from a fine young lady…









…to an elegant, if somewhat chunky, old lady.






Along the way Poppy has taught us many lessons, but mostly since she has become old, mostly blind, almost deaf, and just a little senile.

She has taught us how to be brave.  Poppy has arthritis and her left hip is pretty stiff, yet she bravely plods along on our walks as best she can.  If my hip is hurting, I look at Poppy and try a little harder to get some needed exercise.


She has taught us that although our physical senses may diminish with time, we can still enjoy just being alive.  Poppy is nearly totally blind now, but when we go for a ride in the car, she sits and “looks” out the window, enjoying the wind in her face and the scents of nature.  Who knows, maybe she is “seeing” the tress go by and the horses and the cows in some primitive part of her memory.  She enjoys it all at any rate and does not allow her loss of sight to equate to a loss of pleasure in “seeing.”

Poppy has taught us to take pleasure in the small things.  She cannot see much, she cannot hear much, and she is also losing her sense of smell, but she still takes time to stop and smell the roses….or whatever entices her with savory wonders.

Poppy VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We have learned from Poppy, that no matter how bad things are, there is always something to be happy about, even if it is  just being close to the ones she loves.



We almost lost Poppy today.  She has been so filled with anxiety lately and has been having a LOT of trouble at night.  This means we also have trouble at night and have been getting very little sleep.  I don’t think we have had a full night’s sleep since last December.  Poppy has taken several falls and has walked into objects in the yard that she has not seen or sensed in time.  She managed to get herself locked in the bathroom one night last week.  Thankfully, we always get up at night to check on her if she doesn’t wake us to go out, so she was not in there all night long.  We called the mobile vet over the weekend and made an appointment for her to come and attend to Poppy’s final needs at 3:15 today.  We had even arranged for the cremation people to pick up Poppy’s remains.  But when we got up this morning, we found we just couldn’t do it.  We asked the vet to come by for a consultation and cancelled the cremation pick-up. 

Some may think we are cruel or just plain foolish to hang onto a dog this long.  The vet examined her and found that other than her hip, Poppy is probably not in a lot of physical pain.  Most of Poppy’s pain comes from the twice daily insulin injections, the blood sugar testing, the pain of loss of her senses, and the mental pain she suffers at night.  With that in mind, we are going to try and adjust her medications and see if we can get her some relief.  The vet did say we are not premature in thinking about Poppy’s passing and that if it were her dog, she would probably put her down.

I don’t know how long Poppy has left.  It may be a few days or a few weeks.  We will let her tell us in her own way when she can no longer go on.  She has certainly lived a good long time and has had the best life that any pooch could have.  We feel better having talked to the vet and planned how to take that next step when the time comes.  In the meantime, we will cherish every moment and hopefully continue to learn all the lessons that we can from our brave and wonderful girl.

“SO THERE”