Annie, Tribute to Our Little Girl
As far as I could tell Annie was a drop-off probably because she didn’t really trust children and possibly made her thoughts known with her previous owner. This is where our story begins with Annie. Shortly before Thanksgiving in 1999 we were ready to get in our cars for the drive to work when from the darkness came this white dog with speckled black spots. She came up affectionately to me like I was her long lost friend. I though I had a gift with this dog until she did the exact same thing to Mary. After that she started to wander into the street and I decided for her own safety she should spend the day in our garage. She found her way into our basement the next day and it wasn’t two days later she moved into the upstairs. At first I referred to her as Sweet Pea because, like the character in the Popeye cartoon nobody knew where she came from. Mary preferred Annie and I yielded, figuring it was easier to say. We put found dog ads on a few of the local telephone poles and a found ad in our Kroger store plus an ad in our local Press newspaper. In all of that effort there was only one response and Annie wasn’t the dog the lady was looking for. Annie was ours for good.
Annie loved people, particularly adults but didn’t have much use for other dogs. She jokingly was referred to by some members of our family as the evil one because of this. Mary and I laughed but knew all the while she had a heart of gold. I learned early on you have to be smarter than the dog. Because she had the strength of an ox while walking her I purchased a harness style dog collar. In the second day she was tied up in the backyard she got free of the collar and I had to chase her. On the third day I watched her in the backyard as she pulled the leash taut, turned around and preceded to free her from the collar. That collar never saw the light of day again. In the local dog park 26 pound Annie was pherocous. She got into a few fights and even tried to take on a chocolate lab that outweighed her three fold. Fearing her “no fear” attitude would eventually land her in the bone yard we stopped going to the dog park. One time while I was at a Christmas tree park with Annie and she spotted a horse that was penned up. She walked to within 10 feet of the fence when the horse practically kicked down the fence. Her curiosity with horses surprisingly stopped after that. The smaller critters especially ones in our yard did not intimidate her. Three moles, a squirrel and a chipmunk paid the ultimate price for invading her turf.
Annie was also treated to some racing by yours truly. She attended one Winchester Oldtimer event and toured most of the vintage race cars with me. She was a veteran of one Lawrenceburg open practice afternoon and she and I were pit rats early in the day for the first Lawrenceburg MSCS $10,000 to win show in late 2006. It was there she demonstrated the fine art of defecating in the pit area to which her loyal servant had to clean up. Her favorite sprint car driver that day was Jeff Davis simply because he gave her the most attention. When we took a trip down to Florida Annie was there with us and I was relieved she never had the chance to go toe to toe with an alligator.
At home Annie was a one-dog obstacle course. She acted more as my shadow than the real thing. I can’t count the number of times I tripped over her in all these years. I found out the hard way while I was jogging with her that she could stop on a dime and I had pants with a hole in the knee to prove it. Then there was one day she did get loose and I spent three hours looking for her. I sat on our patio trying to figure out where to look next and will I ever see her again only to have her walk nonchalantly to our backyard. I would take a shower only to see her in the bathroom laying down looking right at me as I left the shower. My response, “You pervert!’ The scene in our family room was repeated countless number of times. I lay on the couch watching TV when Annie jumps up to join me. The smallish beagle mix would eventually have 2/3s the couch. Much of the time though she would lie along side of me while we both would fall asleep trying to make it through the 10:00 news. She would be a most welcome “one dog night” during the cold winter nights.
Last May we added a new member to our family when Maggie came to stay. Maggie is a 14 year old mini-dachound that still believes she is about four years old. This was my mother’s dog and upon moms passing was part of my inheritance. Knowing Annie’s issues with other dogs I didn’t know how she would react. Annie was not lovey-dovey with Maggie but was surprisingly very tolerant of her.
Having grown up and in adult life with a number of dogs I never saw one actually experience this problem. Last summer she began to take more drinks out of her water bowl. Eventually her asking to go out to pee started increasing too. I passed it off as a dog that is just getting older. Eventually it started getting bad enough that around Thanksgiving with another infection she was fighting that I took her to our vet. They started treating the more obvious problem but a few days later her kidneys went into failure. My Annie who stuck by my side through some wonderful times and some low times too was in serious trouble. Our vet tried hard to flush out the kidneys for a possible remedy but it did not work. I was more often than not the rock of the family through my mother’s final months through her funeral but with Annie slipping away I was devastated and very upset. I can’t figure that one out. I won’t even try.
Annie’s last day started out rough. The vet phoned me about 2AM that Annie had taken a turn for the worse and that a respiratory infection was very evident. After I arrived and saw the bleak situation I spent some time comforting Annie and agreed with the doctor that Annie should be euphemized. I stood up and started to walk toward the doctor to ask a question and Annie got up to walk toward me as if to say, “Hey, don’t leave me.” That was it. I copped out and we spent over 3-1/2 hours with her with a quilt and two blankets on an examining room floor. She seemed to improve a little so I left about 7:00. I received another call about 2:00pm that her condition was deteriorating and the respiratory infection grew even worse. Having said a day earlier that she would be home and eating some of the leftover turkey that was in the freezer I requested that we bring Annie home for a couple hours, which the doctor agreed to. We took her home and she made it to our dining room before collapsing. Seeing her in pain and on the floor the decision would be sadly made to put her to sleep. I put her on our couch in the family room and we were both laying down watching TV like always only this time it was Oprah and the 5:00-6:00 news. Mary thawed out a piece of turkey and Annie had at least a taste of it. She seemed content but our trip home took so much out of her. At 6:15 she took one last wobbly walk to the car where we would take her to the vet. Sick as she was she couldn’t resist the temptation of sniffing the butt of another dog as they passed. Mary began to have second thoughts about the euthanasia but my mind was made up. She went quickly and I was teary-eyed but was so glad she was no longer struggling so badly. Annie was my little girl from the get go. I feel bad I didn’t see the situation earlier than I did. I will miss her more than any dog I have ever had the pleasure of being brought into the family. I love Annie and will never forget her.
One last thought: Maggie, my mom’s dog is now with us. With Annie gone to heaven, I’d like to think that she somehow ends up in the care of my mother. Wouldn’t that be something?
-Gregg
