Another Goodbye To Another Sweet Girl

"Maggie"   

July 4, 2003 – January 25, 2016

We had to say goodbye to our sweet Australian Shepherd Maggie.  What can I say about her except she was the sweetest, kindest and most loving dog we ever knew.  She was born on the Fourth of July and when she was younger she was absolutely a little firecracker with lots of energy. Smart doesn’t begin to describe how fast she learned things. Maggie never did anything wrong and always tried to please.  I’m positive she could read minds and knew what you were thinking or going to do.  It was hard sometimes making it out the door without her. She loved car rides and came with me quite a lot. She was the dog that was always happy to see you and meet you at the door wagging her little nub, whether you were gone for fifteen minutes or for hours.


It was heartbreaking to remember her as a younger healthy dog and then have to watch the decline as old age took its toll.  Her back legs couldn’t hold her up anymore and she'd developed kidney disease.  She also had a lot of tumors that couldn't be removed and she had gone mostly deaf.  Recently, she couldn’t help panting most of the time and I knew she was in pain.  I had a harness for her with a strap handle and basically had to carry her around like a fuzzy little suitcase. It was hard for her to get up and down, uncomfortable to walk, and impossible to go up or down steps.  Maggie wasn't enjoying her quality of life anymore and the kindest thing we could do was let her leave with dignity. Maggie went peacefully with lots of hugs, kisses, and tears.  I told her to go find her brother Murphy who left us in September 2014.  She missed not having her big brother around but I’m sure they are together again. The house seems very empty and strange without her here but I suppose I will get used to it, because I have to.


Quote For Today
“Not the least hard thing to bear when they go from us, these quiet friends, is that they carry away with them so many years of our own lives.”
John Galsworthy

Busy Days

" Maggie"

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  All the usual scenarios that go along with the holiday season have made the days around here busy.  I’ve been decorating the house, shopping and wrapping presents for Christmas.  There have been a few unexpected problems to contend with, also.

My seven year old Australian Shepherd, Maggie, had to have surgery to remove some fatty tumors and cysts.  Trust me when I say these were huge; the one by her back end was actually visible when she walked away from you.  I’m happy to report that she now feels like a new woman (for a while there it looked like she might be a boy, if you get my drift.)

Last week we had another unexpected accident.  My daughter’s eighteen-year-old Aussie, Molly, was run over by our horse vet. I’m happy to report that Molly seems to be doing well, all things considered, and we’re optimistic she will recover fully from her many painful injuries.

One good note to be thankful for in all the goings on around here would be that our farrier trimmed and shod Dusty and her front foot is doing really well. There’s almost no more bruising left and he’s confident that when all is healed it might be hard to even spot a minimum of rotation to her coffin bone.  So I was relieved to hear that.

I haven’t had a chance to ride for a while because of the many trips to various vets and holiday duties.  Dusty doesn’t seem to mind at all.  In fact, she’s taken to ignoring me again.  Apparently, not only is she deaf to my calling her, she’s also gone blind and can’t see me at the fence trying to get her attention.  She’s decided she’s a wild horse and some nights even refuses to come to the gate.  There have been a few times I’ve had to track her down to bring her in (or give up and leave her out.  She has this special walk where she doesn’t run away, but walks just fast enough that you can’t catch her, making you look foolish for trying.

Other times I’m convinced she’s persuaded the whole herd into staying out all night in the back pasture to keep her company.  That’s way too far to even consider herding them in, so they’re on their own under those circumstances; we shut the barn down after 8 p.m.  My thoughts are: if you can’t make it in before closing time to a nice clean, warm, hay-filled stall with full grain buckets, then that’s your choice.  Sometimes a little touch of tough love needs to be administered for their own good.  It seemed to work because, after spending two nights out on their own, they were jostling each other at the gate to get in the next night, looking exhausted but none the worse for wear.

That’s about it for an update from the farm.  I’m hoping to get a chance to ride this weekend if all goes according to plan.  Then again, with the way things have been going, maybe it’s better not to try and plan anything and just see what happens.

Until next time

Quote for Today

I whisper to my horse, but she never listens!

Wordless Wednesday -Gone to the Dogs

Gone to the Dogs

Since the dogs have been a little put out about not being featured here, I’d like to introduce Murphy and Maggie my two Australian Shepherds who are brother and sister born one year apart.

' MURPHY'

' MAGGIE '

Until next time

Quote of the Day

A Dog looks up to a man,
A Cat looks down on a man,
But a patient Horse looks a man in the eye and sees him as an equal.