Missing Missy

The on line ad said "1 year old blonde cocker terrier mix". We drove out to Tacoma where Missy was on a clothesline type of set up in the back yard. The story we were told was that another lady had her but she got too big for the trailer home the lady lived in. The people that currently had her were just helping to find her a home. They traveled for work and couldn't keep her.

She was beautiful. Long legs, brown eyes, blonde with white markings and a big fuzzy tail. When you looked straight on at her face she always reminded us of the dog in the movie The Neverending Story".

Wally's comment when we saw her was "we can't leave her here". She was bigger than we expected but we put her in the truck and brought her home. That was 13 1/2 years ago. She was a wonderful companion. For the last 9 years I had my own morning routine with her when I would get up to go to work.

When she was young, she was quite the runner and jumper. She kept me on my toes. She had me trained quite well.

About 4 weeks ago we had to put her to sleep after a long year of health problems. The vet determined later that she had tumors in her vena cava artery. In the end her abdomen was full of fluid, she was losing muscle mass and she struggled to get up. Even though she was sick she was still a sweetheart to the end.

She is greatly missed. Here are some pictures of her over the years.

I write this mainly for myself. I didn't share on Facebook that she had passed away and for a few days at work I didn't want to talk about it. Sometimes in the house I will look over where her dog bed used to be in the living room and I talk to her. I know she's gone, but she left an impression on me and a small hole in my world.

Missy was born in 1999 and our grand daughter Gisele was born a year later. They played together for over 12 years.

Snow dog

Christmas 2012 - her last one.

Christmas tradition - rope chew toy.