Joann Foley

Well, my December is starting off to a great start.  My beautiful friend, Pooh Bear, had a stroke over the weekend and I had to have her put down this morning.  To top it off, I had to go to work afterwards.  She was a beautiful dog, she never caused me any problems throughout her entire life.  I will miss her dearly.

I noticed last night that she was not walking well.  She had lost control of her hindquarters.  This morning, she was just walking around in a fog-like state, just following the sound of my voice as I readied for the day.  I was going to take her in by myself, but found I was too upset to do so.  So, I called my old friend, Larry, and had him come over and take us to the vet’s office.  When he arrived, he said that she just did not seem like herself.

So, we took her to the vet’s office, I made the arrangements and said a very tearful goodbye to my wonderful friend of 15 years.  She hesitated as they took her into the back, as if she knew she would never see me again.

I met Pooh in 1996, 9 months after she had been born.  She was tied to a dog house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and totally ignored, except for being fed regularly.  I took her home, along with the dog house.  She never wanted anything to do with that dog house ever again, and I can’t say I blamed her.  She was scared of her own shadow back then.  She never even barked for the first 6 months that I had her.  I thought that maybe she couldn’t.  After awhile, she came out of her shell and became a normal, well-adjusted dog.  She followed my every step too, and was always there for  me, no matter what.  I will miss her greatly.

I had her cremated and have her ashes in an urn here at home.  My peace needs to come from the knowledge that she is no longer suffering and is in a better place.