From My Broken Heart...

When I was a young child I had the ugliest black mutt name Crocket.  I loved this dog.  My mom would never let him come in the house because he was stinky and dirty.  He would follow me all over town as I rode my bike here and there.  He would wait for me at the pool and the library.  He was the best.  One day he just disappeared.  I used to sit and imagine I could see him off in the distance and he'd run into my arms and we'd be together again but that never happened.  My heart was broken that he had gone away... but over time my heart healed...

When I lived in Las Vegas, Nevada I had this awesome dog named Skippy.  She wasn't quite the mutt Crocket was but she wasn't a special breed.  I used to strap on my roller blades and put a leash on Skippy and she would haul me all over the neighborhood.  That was so much fun.  We moved to Pahrump and during my early teen years I was quite rebellious and ran away from home late one night.  Unbeknownst to me... Skippy tried to follow me and I never saw her again.  My heart was broken that I had lost such a friend... but my heart healed...

When I lived in Louisburg, Missouri we had a wonderful black lab named Duchess.  She was amazing.  She lived to fetch.  She would chase anything, a rock, ball stick.... She would even dive into the water to retrieve whatever you threw for her.  One afternoon while target practicing my brother and his friend accidentally shot her.  She just came out of nowhere right as they were shooting their target.  Once again I was so sad... but my heart healed...

A few years ago my lovely sister Misty gifted us with a beautiful little dappled dachshund we named Guido.  She was absolutely the sweetest little dog you've ever seen.  She was a perfect friend for our other dachshund Paco.  She had the most beautiful big blue eyes and she was a special friend for my daughter Emily.  That little dog would burrow under the covers with her at night.  They were two peas in a pod...

Thursday afternoon we left the house to go to the library and the post office.  We took both our little doggies and put them outside on their leashes to have some bathroom time while we were gone.  We left about 3:00pm and came home about 3:30pm.  I hollered for the kids to let the dogs in as I was getting out of the car and I heard my son Logan ask, "What is wrong with Guido??? She's just laying there..."  I panicked... Instantly I thought "heat stroke."  It has been unbelievably hot the last few days.  Both of our dogs leashes are in an area where they have access to shade, water and their dog houses.  Guido's leash had wrapped itself around a tuft of grass and she was in the sun.  She was such a small dog that she wasn't strong enough to pull the loop off the grass it was caught on.

As I ran up to Guido the leash wrapped around the grass was the first thing I noticed.  I looked at her and she was laying there, her eyes were open and her tongue was hanging out.  I bent down and took her collar off and ran my hand down her side to see if she was breathing.  She moved so I snatched her up and ran inside.  She began to jerk around in my arms as I put her into the bathtub to get some cold water on her.  I was rubbing her and crying and begging God to please not let this little dog die.  All I could think about was my daughter I had to save this dog for my daughter.  I kept yelling for Emily to get out of the bathroom because I just didn't want her to see Guido like this.  I tried for about 5 minutes to breathe into Guido's mouth, rub her... I didn't know what to do... I just wanted her to live.  Finally I realized she was gone.  I sat there and just cried.  My kids were all crying too.

As I sat holding Guido I noticed she had what appeared to be fresh bruises all down her left side.  At this point there was a knock on our door and poor Bobby Heard from the parks department showed up to deliver my council packet.  The kids and I were all crying and I came to the door holding my dead dog... just crying and telling him how sorry I was that we were all worked up right then... and asking him if he knew anything about dogs??? But she was already passed.... There was nothing we could do.

I felt awful thinking Guido could have died of heat stroke but I also couldn't imagine that it could happen so quickly.  I got online and began to look up the signs of heat stroke and what happens when a dog suffers from it.  I even called the vet and described her bruises and what had happened.  The vet and the information I found online say she did not die from heat stroke and the bruises on her side were troubling me.

After many phone calls to anyone I could think of that might know something about dogs we ruled out heat stroke.  We suspect someone did something to our little Guido to cause her death.  She was not near the road and you would have had to pull a car practically into my back yard to run her over... and she would have been bleeding from that I would think...  It's possible someone walking by may have kicked her but I can't fathom why someone would do such a thing.  We will never know what happened.

So now I go back and forth in my mind wishing I had left our dogs inside when we left home.  Feeling guilty that maybe it was heat stroke... and feeling sorrow for my daughter whose lost her best friend.  Our other dog Paco is a lost soul as well.  He wanders from room to room looking for his Guido and she is gone.  My heart is broken.  I'm praying for it to heal.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...  A time to be born and a time to die... a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted...  A time to kill and a time to heal... a time to break down and a time to build up...  A time to weep and a time to laugh... a time to mourn and a time to dance...