Thursday, July 21, 2011

Goodbye Glory

We had a sad week this week in that we made the decision to put our dog, Glory, to sleep. This whole post is dedicated to her so if you aren't interested in a 9-year history of my dog, feel free to skip it.

Our family has a friend who raises German Shepards and since I can remember we have always had one. These are not your typical German Shepards though. She specialises in black and silvers and now solid black dogs. When I bought my house in 2003 (just off Cherry Street) I decided I wanted a big dog to live there with me. I called our friend and told her I would be interested in a grown dog that would make a good companion for me. I told her no hurry, just call if she had one she thought would work. She said she happened to have a 3-year-old female that the owners had returned to her because they wanted to focus on smaller show dogs and she had not taken to showing like they had wanted.

I drove out to her place the next day and met Glory and decided to take her home with me and give it a go. What a great decision. Part of the deal was I wouldn't have to pay for here as long as breeding rights remained with our friend. Fine with me.

So the time I lived in that house I got to play host to two litters of puppies. This is a picture of her second litter. Matt and I had started dating by this time and we both had so much fun with these puppies and Glory was such a good mommy.
Here they are starting solids.
Fast forward a few years and now we have a baby and a new home and Glory fit in perfectly. She was great with the baby and loved the country.
She always loved the snow and wanted to chase us when we would sled. She had one little quirk in that she was obsessed with tennis balls and retrieving. I think she thought when we were sledding she was supposed to retrieve us.
She loved to run and play with Milo and my mom's dog. She was the one dog Tucker would ever play with and he loved her so much.
You can see in this picture the intensity of her ball obsession.

The kids have always been free to play on her and she was always so patient with them.
When G was an only child, Glory was her favorite playmate.
When Darby came along Glory never missed a beat and Darby used to lay on her all the time.
I have a lot of pictures of naked Darby lounging on Glory but those are not acceptable for the WWW.
A few years ago Glory was playing ball and fell on some rocks and injured her hip. She was never the same after that and then developed hip displaycia. Her ball chasing days were over and she became home bound. We have watched her hips get worse and worse and often joked about having to have her put down. I think we joked on the surface but knew it would happen one day.

This last weekend I saw her fall and not be able to get up and I knew it was time. She was always the toughest dog and never yelped or cried in pain but she had lost her spunk and I knew she was in constant pain and that was not fair. I called our breeder friend and she agreed so I decided Monday morning I would take her. I felt like it was my place to do it, not Matt's, since she was my dog first.

We talked to the kids on Sunday and explained that some day Glory would not be with us anymore and Georgia immediately started pampering her. She made her a little bed and gave her covers. G had no idea at this point that we would loose our Glory the next day.
The morning before I took her I got some pictures of her withe the girls.
And her best buddy Milo.
And of course Mera who is, unfortunately, not going to get to enjoy her.
She was truly a great dog and so beautiful. My heart has a little hole in it that will heal with time but today I still miss her and wish she was waiting at the fence for me when I drive home. I hope she is whole again in doggy heaven and getting to chase all the balls her little heart desires, restored to her young gorgeous self. I wish she had just died here at home suddenly because I hated taking her in knowing what was about to happen. She didn't know my pats and scratches were a final goodbye but I was happy to be next to her as she fell asleep and then left my life forever. I will always remember her and the place she had in my life and appreciate her gentle nature and her love of my kids. We miss you Big Glory!

January 2000 to July 18, 2011

4 comments:

The Busters said...

So sorry, Virginia. What wonderful memories you have of her!

Londonacres said...

Well, you made me cry! Glory was such a wonderful girl and loved he family very much. We were all blessed. I pray she and Mack are young again and chasing the balls that never stop in heaven. Love you V!

Anonymous said...

Virginia, I am so sorry about Glory. you made me cry too! I am glad you have the new puppy (what is her name?), but there's nothing like having to say goodbye to your dog.

~eva

Anne and Joel said...

Well, this made me cry. I'm glad you took pictures of her with all the girls. What a great dog. I'm sorry you had to put her to sleep, but you were right to since she was in so much pain. And I'm happy the girls are having fun with the new puppy!