RIP - MY PRECIOUS DOG WILLOW

Some of you might remember when I found WILLOW in January 2011. Well actually SAGE and I both found her.  SAGE was a tad "dog aggressive" so I took her along to the breeder to see if she reacted well to any of the puppies. She had NO interest whatsoever in ANY of the puppies brought in to meet her.

Just before I "called it a day" I was invited to see the rest of the 3 litters of puppies downstairs. I knew I didn't want a pup from the first litter because the mother had a very masculine face. The second litter - the same thing. The third litter I had no idea because the mother was outside.  BUT the owner of the father was there and showed me a photo and he was beautiful. We all walked out to see the mother in her run - she was a long haired Shepherd, which I wasn't sure I wanted.  But she WAS on the smaller side and had a pretty, feminine face.

We walked back in to the puppies and they were all clamoring to the front to be picked up. All of a sudden, one puppy toward the back sat back abruptly, looked up at me directly and I literally heard in my head "PICK ME!!". I asked if it was a female. The breeder picked her up, said "YES" and took her upstairs to meet SAGE (on the off chance that something might click). SAGE licked her and licked her and wouldn't leave her alone. It was a match made in HEAVEN for all of us.

I mean look at that sweet little face!!  How could you not fall in love immediately?

SAGE did her job well as a big sister and taught WILLOW to be sweet, obedient and loving.  They were perfect together - I got the biggest kick out of watching them play and interact.

And WILLOW grew into the most beautiful dog I've ever had.......

And smart?!  She climbed right up over the ottoman one night during BOOK CLUB at my house as if she was supposed to be an active participant.  We were all shocked, to say the least.

I'm still stunned and completely heart broken that she's gone. Only 4.5 years old, WILLOW had just gotten to the age where she was still a little bit "puppy" but finally mature enough to be settled most of the time and ride in the car like a "grownup", if you know what I mean......  She LOVED the car! And unlike most of my Shepherds, she preferred the windows up and air conditioning on. Perhaps because she was born in the Winter - with snow and cold.

She really loved the snow. In fact, I think she would know when it was coming and would actually start to show excitement. Or was that me?

WILLOW LOVED the SNOW and also her FRISBEE!!

WILLOW listened intently to what I would say to her.  And you know, I really think she understood most of the time.  I LOVED that tilt of her head!!

Some of you will want to know what happened to take her so young.  You can read my PS if you're interested.  

I KNOW I need another Shepherd to share my life with and have begun to reach out to friends and breeders to identify my next companion. I trust that WILLOW and my other 5 GIRLS before her are working on a plan for me as I type........


JOAN


PS  What happened?? Basically on June 16th, the day I got home from Europe, I noticed WILLOW squinting her left eye just a tiny bit. Over the next 3 weeks we were at her Allergist, her Primary Vet and an Ophthalmologist and starting to see some improvement. However, on Friday night of July 4th weekend, she suddenly became blind in both eyes. I was panicked and took her to the VET ER. They did test after test over the weekend and merely speculated what the problem could be. 

On Monday, when the regular staff was back in, their Ophthalmologist took one look and said she thought it was cancer - confirmed by the Internist who saw lesions on her spleen and blood clots in her artery leading to her kidneys.  She hadn't eaten in several days, her kidneys were shutting down despite the IV fluids and she was blind.  

We said goodbye on Monday afternoon, July 6th (coincidentally, the same day we said Goodbye to our father 15 years ago) and I came home to a VERY quiet house. It's the first time in 30 years that I haven't come home to at least one dog in the house. It's been quite a challenge to get used to the stillness.  But I do have a feeling there won't be silence for long.........