A dog's life

This week is always happy but tinged with sadness ... every year. We remember the passing of our old dog, Bailey. But then we celebrate the birthday of our new dog, Meg.

Bailey came to us as an answered prayer - literally! I'd been in the depths of grief and depression for many months after losing my Dad. I felt so empty inside, and I was seriously considering having another baby ... only one problem there - Craig didn't want to!

So, we decided on getting a dog. The kids and me visited PAWS twice a week, fell in love with a few dogs, but for many reasons, we were unable to adopt from PAWS. We prayed at the reception area of PAWS for Jesus to lead us to our new family member, on several occasions.

Then, my friend Carol called me. She told me about a free dog in the Pickle Press (our local free classifieds newspaper). The dog was Bailey - a lab mix - 18 months old - and she was free (many people were interested in her, so we left our phone number her owners, but didn't hold out much hope of even getting to look at her).

We immediately fell in love with Bailey - she was like a bigger version of Craig's Dad's dog, Sooty, and she was sweet. We had to teach her lots of things - she was soooo submissive! She learned quickly - not to eat the kids toys, to go outside to use the bathroom, not to pull on the leash and to be friendly to other dogs. She was so gentle and affectionate and loved being part of our family.

I began walking with her immediately - in the rain or shine - that was good for me. My depression lifted as soon as she arrived in our home - it turned out that she needed us much more than I needed her though. There had been some neglect in her life - physical touch was lacking, exercise was lacking, affection and love were missing. She got all that and more from us. She was the perfect dog!

We had her in our lives for just a few short years, but she was the centre of our family time and never really made any demands on us, except for food and exercise. She was suddenly diagnosed with Leukemia after an episode of nose-bleeds, she'd spent a day underneath our deck - not wanting to come out. There was nothing we could do, but to have her put out of her pain.

Our lives were empty once more. The kids didn't want to be home alone, I hated coming home to an empty house, I forced myself to walk and people would ask me where my dog was:(

The only thing to do was to get a puppy! We'd found a breeder up in Canada with puppies born a couple of days after we lost Bailey. The kids and I drove up one weekend to visit them - 11 little black balls of mischief! We decided that yes, one of these pups would be ours. We were waiting to get our pick - it felt like forever!

We bought puppy books and videos to educate ourselves and Cadence needed to go out and buy puppy toys. My Mum suggested we call our new dog "D-fer" which we liked, but since we were getting a female, shouldn't it be "B-fer"? Anyways, the name Meg seemed to be a winner - the first dog in my life was a Meg - my grandparents dog.

So, Meg came home at 10 weeks of age. What a nightmare! It was like having a baby again! Having to get up during the night to go potty, watching her like a hawk all day long. Worrying about her when I went to work. It was stressful, but looking back it was also a good thing.

She's such a trusting dog, because we're all she's ever known. We've never been mean to her, never hurt her, so she has no reason to fear us. She is just as loving as Bailey and definitely much more affectionate and she loves to cuddle, sitting on our laps, being cradled like a baby even!

She lives for love, food and walks ... well, that actually should read food, food, food, love, walks! We all adore her and wonder where her 3 years have gone.

I'll quite often think about Bailey - even now, especially when I'm outside, working around the trees in my yard. Her ashes are scattered around my trees - she'd spend hours sitting under them, waiting for the squirrels to venture down. Then, as I'm bending down to prune a plant or do some weeding, I'll get side-swiped or even 2 paws on the back of my shoulders and get pushed to the ground, or "Megged" as we call it. A face full of kisses and I'm immediately brought back into the present day ... Bailey would NEVER have done that!!