Never Without a Dog to Love
On Saturday, August 2nd we had to let our beautiful lab/chow mix, Kady, leave this earth in peace to go join her sisters, Keeba and Kelsey. Vern and I were just heartbroken. She was extra special to us because she was our first dog together and was my 1st experience raising a puppy. She came into our lives when she was just 7 weeks old. Kady’s mother was fortunate enough to end up in the yard of a family that loved dogs and was able to have her litter of 12 puppies in their children’s doll house in the backyard. They arrived the 1st part of September, 2001. This wonderful family was able to find loving families for all the puppies and took care of them until they were ready to leave – even kept one of Kady’s sister for themselves.
On Friday, August 1st, I called the Cascades Humane Society to let them know what we were going to have to do the next day for our Kady and to please keep us in mind if they ever got any puppies. They don’t get very many puppies anymore because of the great program to neuter/spay all abandoned dogs. That very afternoon a litter of six lab/shepherd puppies were brought in. All our dogs have been a lab mix and as heartbroken as we were we actually felt, this was a sign from our Kady that she sent another sister to love and watch over us. Cascades said we could come over and look at them – they had to be in isolation until they had their shots and were seen by a vet. As hard as it was to be to losing Kady, knowing that there was a possibility we wouldn’t be without a dog for very long helped us to get thru the next day.
Our house has never been without a dog in over 34 years – so for the short period of time we did not have one with us was just horrible. These wonderful people at Cascades knew the pain we were in and let us foster the little girl that would eventually be the new addition to our family. We knew we had to go with a puppy rather than an older dog because we would be doing too much comparing and puppies – well puppies are a breed of their own. Kalley has helped us so much in coping with our grief of losing Kady – she has helped us to laugh and smile again and is developing a wonderful personality. One of the most beautiful and satisfying feelings in the world is coming home to the adoration and love that you receive from your pet.
This will be my 4th dog and I’ve always gotten help from the Cascades Humane Society or thru people associated with this truly wonderful organization. We can’t thank them enough for all the compassion and help they have shown to us during this extremely difficult time.