A few Words

Words always seem so pitiful when death comes. I haven't much to say except that today is filled with tears. Sweet Maggie died Monday evening.
The vet came out to the house. She went peacefully, on our front porch, in the late afternoon sun. The Prospector dug her a grave, surrounded it with rocks and we will make a sign with her name on it soon .
I got home late last night from my friend "C"s.
This morning I cut some daffodils and took Carl up to the hill above the orchard. The Prospector was laying rocks around Maggie's grave. It was beautiful up there. Maggie always loved to run up the road to this spot.

We will miss this wonderful old dog. I think Carl is wondering where she is. He had such a serious look on his face up there. One I haven't seen before.
Goodbye Maggie, we will miss you so..., be good and run, again, like the wind.

The final lesson took a while
But finally she understood...
"Is it three days, not counting hols?
Then come and meet me in the wood." ~anonymous~

Tuesday's Show & Tail: Tentative Friendship

What's an old dog supposed to do when a little monster puppy comes into her life. A Corgi puppy is more than just a puppy. A Corgi puppy is a force of nature that has to be dealt with. Maggie, our Shepherd mix, is almost 14 years old and that, folks, is 98yrs old in equivalent human years. She sleeps a lot, has arthritis, can't see or hear very well anymore and has the usual aches and pains that any 98 year old would have.
Carl, the pupster, has none of these problems and doesn't understand or empathize with the "old lady". Its been a rough 6 months.

But, all of a sudden, there has been a change. It is as if Carl has finally reach a level of maturity and understanding about Maggie's age and condition. I don't know exactly when this happened but it could have been the one time that Maggie struck back after Carl, relentlessly, kept biting her tail and her ears and then grabbed her sore back leg. We didn't see everything that happened but Maggie finally "had it" and she swung out and nipped Carl's ear..., hard. Carl was surprised and he ran under our bed. He goes there when he has taken something like a shoe or piece of clothing that he knows he is not supposed to have...., and when he thinks he is in "big trouble". I guess he thought that Maggie was giving him "big trouble" because he just stayed under the bed and wouldn't come to us when we tried to get him to come out.
The next morning he was a much more subdued puppy and when they were up on the sofa I got this photo (above) of Carl's paw on Maggies. I think they finally made their peace with each other.

Carl still has his moments and they can be brutal but mostly, now, they seem to be friends.

The old lady and the one year old. (Carl had a birthday on Nov 11.) Look at them. We love them both...., and now, I think, they will be good friends until Maggie is no longer with us. She will just have to put Carl in his place once in a while and tell him who used to be boss around here back in the day. It's the old generation gap...., even in the dog world.

Please check out West Virginia Treasures for other stories. We hope everyone will join us every Tuesday. Post a picture or two of your pets and tell a little about them! Tuesdays' Show & Tail is about having fun, and giving us a chance to meet other pet owners in the blogging community.

Maggie's Ordeal

"Where have you been, Old Lady? You smell funny. What happen to you. Why isn't there any hair on your front legs? What's this thing on your back? Why do you smell so different? What's wrong with you?" The Pupster was all over Maggie after her return from the animal hospital. Maggie, still groggy from the ordeal..., " Enough, little one, I need some rest. Stop lickin' and sniftin' me."

Maggie shows Carl her sore rear end and gives him some advice.., " If they put you in the car and don't say anything, you know it's the dreaded trip to that place, in town, where it really smells funny and sometimes you have to stay overnight. Usually, you go to sleep and wake up with less hair and something different has happen. I'm kind of sleepy now, so I think I'll lay down and take a nap for a while. I'm really sleepy. I'm sore and I'm getting tired of this."

"No more sniffing, little one, I need to sleep."



Maggie had a cyst removed from her hip yesterday. It was huge and opened up Wed night, so Friday morning the Prospector took her down to the local Vet and had it removed. The Dr. says that she will be OK. She's 14 years old. How OK can you be when you are 98 yrs old. They didn't take the arthritis away. They can't make her young again.
My sweet old dog cried during the night. I told her that it will be better in a few days.
She just looked at me.