It is with great sadness of heart that I post this blog. On Sunday, October 12, 2008, at approximately 2:00 PM, our beloved dog Shawanda passed away. A few years ago, I had a hard drive crash and unfortunately, I lost a lot of pictures that I had of her. Below are a few that I was able to put together for this post.
The above picture is a pretty typical shot of Shawanda. She always wanted to be right with me, wherever I went. Most of the time however, she thought that SHE was the one who was supposed to be leading!! As she got older and slower and I got older and slower, it seemed like we were always in each other's way! But by our side was where she always wanted to be.
Above is a picture of one of the things that Shawanda did best . . . sleep! When I picked her out at the pet store back in '97, I could hardly get her awake enough to see a little of her personality. She pert near slept through the whole thing. And then when I got her home, I lay down with her on the floor, where she put her head on my arm and fell back asleep! She slept next to my bed almost every night for the next 11 years. Of course, she could be a bit of a noisy sleeper and although that didn't keep me awake, I think that Sandy spent a few sleepless nights because of Shawanda's snoring - not to mention the occasional fart that would make your eyes water! We finally decided that certain types of table scraps were not conducive to a good night's rest. Sometimes the farts were SBD's, but often they were actually audible. She's the only dog I've ever known that you could hear her farts. She'd rip one off and then look up at me . . . I always thought that she thought it was funny. On other occasions, we've seen her rip one and then get up and move, as if to get away from her own smell! I know it's funny to admit, but I'm even going to miss her farts.
Above is the second best thing she loved to do - beg for food! She knew the words dinner and biscuit. Dinner time was a time for running around impatiently, looking at me moving too slowly to suit her. She also loved her biscuits - dog biscuits of course. I gave them to her several times every evening. I think it was the highlight of her day!
Above is a picture of her at an earlier time, before we moved to our new house. I don't remember exactly what she was doing in this picture, but she was probably staring at a bird. Although she was a German Shepard/Black Lab mix, she was the birdiest dog I have ever seen. She would chase birds all day long when she was younger. Bird was another word that she recognized. I would say "where's the bird" and she would look up in the sky, gazing around to find the bird.
She's also the only dog I've ever known to smile. Yes, she smiled . . . at least her version of it. When she was really excited, her lips would pull back, exposing her teeth, not in a threatening way, but rather in what could only be decribed as a dog smile. She quit smiling a year or so ago . . . I don't think she felt very well over the last year. Of course, she was starting to get old and a little bit slow.
I always thought that taking my dog camping would be a lot of fun. So, I took her camping . . . once . . . and told myself that I would never do that again!! I never did. Of course, I don't think she minded that at all. She didn't have a very good time camping :-)
The third picture from the top, where she is sleeping, is almost the exact position that we found her in when she passed from us. It was a favorite spot for her to curl up. We installed a doggie door in our laundry room, so that she could get inside whenever she wanted to. Apparently, she came inside the house to die . . .
About two months ago, Shawanda got sick. We had just returned from vacation and she didn't quite seem to be herself. She was a bit lethargic and lay around a little more than usual. A couple of nights later, she had what we believe must have been a seizure of some sort. She recovered slowly and from that point, I though she was going to be okay, maybe just a little bit of some sort of flu. However, she again got sick a couple of weeks later. This pattern repeated one more time and during all of this, her appetite was slipping and she was losing weight. By the time of her death, she had gone from a robust 70 pounds down to a mere 59 pounds. This last go-round of sickness she was unable to recover from. The vet believes that she had what they called a liver or stomach "mass". I don't know what that means . . . but apparently that mass finally ruptured and that is what took her life. Although we miss her, I am thankful that she died peacefully. I don't believe that she was in any pain, even right up until the end. It was a merciful death.
At this point, we are really missing our friend. We realize that with time, we will miss her less. But Shawanda, although gone, will never be forgotten. She was our friend, our faithful companion. She always gave us more than we could ever give in return.
Rest in peace our beloved friend. You've earned it.
No comments:
Post a Comment