endings and beginnings

The past few days have been ones of endings and beginnings...

Sadly, after my last post, Tilly continued to go downhill in terms of her level of pain. She had almost stopped eating, and her eyes reflected the pain she was feeling. The vet came out and said there was nothing more he could do for her... so we made the hard decision to put her down.

We said good-bye to her Friday afternoon...



She was an incredible creature... I've never known another animal with her amazing combination of strength, forgiveness, persistence and gentleness. After being rounded up by the BLM as a wild three year old and sold, she endured years of abuse... abuse that left her legs permanently damaged.  I couldn't fix that damage, but I'm glad we were able to make the end of her life as easy as possible.

Tucker (her son) was very hurt and confused when she died... We left her body in the pasture for awhile and he alternated between licking the spot on her neck where the needle had gone in, and pawing the ground. He stood watch over her all that night.  The next morning, after her body was gone, he stood at the fence braying for her... His reaction to losing her has been incredibly sad to watch.

Thankfully both M and R have handled losing Tilly reasonably well... Both kids showed a lot of maturity and growth compared to when we lost Grant almost 2 1/2 years ago.

R has been grieving though. I'd told her awhile ago that she could get another dog (she lost her dog to cancer about 6 months ago), and decided that losing Tilly made it a bit more urgent to find her a dog quickly. She wanted a smallish dog, but not a puppy...we were thinking about a bichon frise (or a bichon mix)... A dog that would become a companion and hopefully a comfort to her when she's feeling anxious.

I started checking the online listings for our local shelters, and just today found what (I hope!) will be the perfect dog for her.

His name is Cody and he's a bichon frise, shih tzu mix (a zuchon! :). He's 3 years old and was given up because kids in his home were allergic. He's got a very sweet, friendly personality and enough energy to keep with R. She is crazy about him.



Doesn't he have the sweetest face?

Needless to say, R is thrilled...