I realized after reading someone's poetry that I never really blogged about how we came by our dog, Girl. Some things just aren't planned. And they come into your life with an insistence that seems written in stone. By that I mean, it will happen whether you want it or not. I had never taken in a stray. We had always paid big money for a pedigree. After we lost our little west highland terrier at age 8 to cancer, we said never again. No more dogs to fall in love with and weep over when they go.
Then Girl showed up. I remember the first time I saw her. It was pouring rain, kind of like it is doing but then it was accompanied by thunder and lightening. And I see this half grown mutt racing up and down the road in a panic. Going to each fenced in property trying to find a place in. She came down my driveway. I let her stay on my front porch. Our uncle was the past president of the humane society. It is a no kill non profit privately owned facility. They don't take dogs and cats until there is an opening. So, Ralph's Uncle asked us if we could just keep her on the front porch, safe until he could get her an opening. So, this is how it all started. I had never owned a stray let alone an outdoor dog. So, we fed her, watered her. Eventually petted. her.
He kept taking her down to his facility to see if a spot had opened up. Then it got cold. I took to bringing an old quilt out to the front porch for her. Next thing I knew I was spending all my time on that old quilt out front with her. I was falling in love and didn't even know it. She was inching her way into my heart. Bit by bit. And there is something about a stray. They are so appreciative of every scrap of love you give them. Even just a passing pat on the head. It breaks your heart. And so it went. Uncle Lennie kept trying to find a placement and we would only call her " Here Girl" because we had no intention of ever keeping her. We were through with dogs breaking our hearts and dying on us. So we never gave her a name. This went on for weeks.
Finally one day my husband just said to his Uncle. Forget it. She's ours. We gave her a bath, brought her into the house. And we never did give her a name. Because by that time she thought her name was "Girl". And so the universe gave us a dog.
And she was very protective of us. But very gentle with children. She was like a gentle giant. And she grew. She grew so much that when she would try and sit in our laps, only a tiny portion would fit. But she kept trying as funny as she looked. Then when she realized she was too big for that. She would come and lay her head on our knee and look up at us. I would give my whole entire world for one more of those looks. And she was pure joy to watch. At about age 2 or 3 she would leap through our woods like a goat, straight up, straight down and flush out birds and rabbits. She never really wanted to catch them. She just liked the game. We think she had some bird dog in her because she would stand by a tree, catch a scent of something and freeze and just point in one direction for fifteen minutes. We took her everywhere. She went to Colorado. She went to Canada. She was a well traveled dog. And when we got our motorhome her favorite thing was to visit campgrounds. She loved it. Her favorite was the mountains and forests. She did not care for the ocean too much. She loved campgrounds that were full of other dogs.
And one day we inherited a little dog named Tiny. He was a mini dachshund. He fell in love with Girl but she only tolerated him.
We loved Girl for ten years. Then she got sick. They never did find out what was causing it. Her lungs were cloudy and the Vet suspected cancer. We kept her comfortable but in Sept she passed away of an assumed heart attack at home. I whispered to her. Find me Girl. Find me. And life will never be the same without her.
