Loss of a pet: like a best friend.

Lucky was a love. The most affectionate dog ever.  And beautiful.

We had just bought our first home with our 2 sons.  It seemed the next logical step to get a dog.  Shelter dogs weren’t the “in thing” as much so we started to research different breeds.  My husband liked dogs like the Staffordshire Terrier (looks like a pit bull) and I like pretty dogs like the one in the Kid Songs video (Border Collie).

I won.

We found a local breeder who had Border Collie puppies for sale.  We had been living in our home for one year.

The litter had been born on Christmas day.  The puppies were all adorable, but the little runt who needed to be fed in the house is the one we fell in love with.  No papers would be available but they did send us Christmas Cards for the next few years.

Lucky joined our family during a snow blizzard in 2003. She was adorable and we all fell instantly in love.

The summer of 2003 we noticed that Lucky liked running circles around the above ground pool in our yard.  She would actually run figure 8’s around the pool and the half acre yard.

She gave us such love and affection and we bonded with our pet.

But Lucky had some anxieties.

This was first noticed when I went to teach Kindergarten.  On the very first day of school the secretaries at school told me that a neighbor had called. My dog was chasing buses down the street.  I had left her in the house.  How could that happen. I drove the 2 miles back to my neighbor’s house and put her in the crate for the day so I could drive back to school in time to greet my new Kindergarten students.  That was a close call.

Border Collies are a tough pet to have.  I had not looked into the breed as much as I should have.

The following year we went to a friend’s house on the 4th of July.  We left Lucky at home.  When we came home, we noticed the door to our son’s bedroom had been destroyed.  He must have shut it when we left and she felt the need to get in there while we were gone. Splintered wood covered the hallway and the bottom half of his door was missing. That was when we first realized that she did not like fireworks.

When she was 4 we moved.  Our new home was located near a local beach and she loved the beach. I tried to take her out to the beach every morning for a walk. Even when the ground was covered in ice and snow I could still throw a tennis ball for her to fetch. She loved it and she loved every person she met.

Not so much the other dogs.  We tried dog training classes and even playdates but she soon bored of them.  She never bit another dog but she would give them her fiercest growl.

One of the most awesome things to experience is a thunderstorm by the water.  The way the clouds darken the sky and the lightning strikes all around.  Even after the storm, the sunlight begins to peek through the horizon and you know it is all going to be good again.

Lucky did not like thunderstorms.  In fact she could sense the storm coming miles before it came near us.  She would bark.

We got her a thunder jacket. It didn’t really help.

Then she would escape.  She wanted to get away, even if we were all home with her.

I tried crates: she broke out of them.  I tried a heavy duty crate one time and she pushed so hard that she had a 3 inch wound from trying to escape.  I blockaded the yard with wood and everything we could think of.  She always figured out how to get free.

On quite a few occasions, she would run to the beach.  Mike would send the boys out to get her.  She would come back for slice of American cheese.

On days that the boys didn’t catch her in time, one of many people in the neighborhood would call us to come and get her.  Her cute face was posted on Facebook one evening under the title “Found dog”. One family called us during a rainstorm in the middle of the night to tell us our dog had been chewing the siding on their house.  Another time someone called from their car, she had jumped in and wouldn’t leave.

Eventually, Lucky was put on medication.  It was to mellow her out.  Sometimes it worked.

As crazy as she was, she was a love.  She got old and her body didn’t work anymore.  It was really sad to say goodbye to her.  I am happy for the good, fun years she did give us as her family.  Maybe she is with Mike now and at peace.

it didn’t take me too long to find a new puppy to love. Harry joined our family a few weeks after Mike died.  He has brought me so much comfort and joy. He doesn’t really want to be potty trained but he doesn’t try to escape.  You need to focus on the positives my friends.

How much do your pets support you?
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