Tuesday, August 30, 2011

End of the Road

Sadie being very brave
She's been bathed and now lies on the porch with the fan blowing over her to cool her black furry body also to keep the irritating flies off her brought on by the monsoon rains. Today is her last day. We discussed it with deep sadness but her condition has deteriorated so much since the return from our journey. We held out hope as long as our hearts can endure. Last Saturday she was up walking around in almost a show off manner even eating well in the mid afternoon but that day ended and since then the time has come to say goodbye. It hurts..really hurts because for so long would we say "Well she's no trouble at all".

Sadie was a beautiful black lady, never was loud, never jumped on anyone, never smeared the sliding glass doors with her nose but gently jump onto her hind legs and "clap her front paws together letting you know she wanted in and always smile, wagging her tail when we would whisper pet names or compliment her attributes stretching the truth many times. We would leave the house and instead of instructing her to watch the house while we were gone, we would tell her to hide if someone broke in. She was the most quiet dog I ever met. Whether being the house or in the car, she would inadvertently give you a nuzzle just to let you know she was there. Other than that she would return to her bed in the bedroom or re situate herself in the back seat of the car and be silent.  You see, "She isn't much trouble at all".

Sadie is an English Labrador Retriever and by instinct she would carry a ball, chase when thrown, but not always return it right away. This was her style of retrieving. I would encourage to run and tell her that she was the fastest dog in the world even though her lumbering gait didn't achieve the speed of most of the other dogs. As for meeting other dogs, she was always shy and polite, never mean or domineering. You might say she was just a Love Pup with a lust for cookies. 

Sadie's favorite hike...Horton Creek
We didn't get to enjoy her full life. Carl took her in from a family when she was about 6 years old, a mature point in a large dogs life. Then Carl moved to Hawaii and we being the Grandparents took Sadie and raised her like our own until we took our six month journey this last spring and then she lived with Gretchen, Carl's sister. There Sadie had another dog and a cat to play with. She went with Gretchen to school to calm the classroom of students. I believe this was the most important job she ever had.  She won the hearts of Gretchen and Mel because "She's really no trouble at all".

July 23rd we returned and noticed she occasionally had stability issues with her hindquarters but nothing too bad though within the last couple weeks this problem rapidly became worse so today is the last day of her life and I will miss her...really miss her. There is one thing that our creator made perfect and that would be the Black Labrador Retriever named Sadie....you were no trouble at all.



She's sweet...very sweet

1 comment:

  1. What a beautiful tribute to a dog who became part of the Stetter's family. Love your animals. We are all family to the world. Corinne Cain

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