Manhatan's “Shawnee “ Princess3/25/93- 5/5/09I woke up 5/6/09 two hours before my alarm went off. The silence woke me. A deafening quiet. No panting, or bumping into the dresser, the mirrored...
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Shawnee Showgirl
Manhatan's “Shawnee “ Princess3/25/93- 5/5/09
I woke up 5/6/09 two hours before my alarm went off. The silence woke me. A deafening quiet. No panting, or bumping into the dresser, the mirrored closet doors, the bedroom door could be heard. Only myself breathing. My eyes still swollen from crying all day yesterday.
I let my beloved 16 year old Chesapeake go. She’s been slowing down allot lately. She was very tired. No longer able to go for walks as anything more than a block would exhaust her. No longer able to go to the park as she was worn out by the time I coaxed her up the dog ramp into the Explorer. Only daily outings in our front yard.
She’s been having “accidents” daily in the house, so daily I would be cleaning carpets, always telling her “it’s okay, Momma’s not mad at you.” But I must admit, I too was getting tired. She suffered from arthritis in her hind legs & I suffered a shoulder sprain two weeks ago & found it more & more difficult to help her stand up with a bum arm. A dear friend of mine who just put her 14yr old to sleep last week gave me a harness so I could wrap it around her middle & pick her up with my good arm. That in her last week made it easier for both of us.
I’ve been fortunate to work close to home so I’d been coming home on lunch breaks to check on her. Every once in a while she wouldn’t eat a breakfast or dinner. This morning I couldn’t even get her to take her favorite treats from me by hand. It took me 2 hours to get her to stand up, then another hour to get her to drink some water. I called the vet & they said they could come to our house by 1pm.
I held her head in my lap, stroked her face & kissed her gently, telling her all the while how beautiful she was & how much I loved her. That it was going to be okay, she wouldn’t be in pain anymore. She slowly relaxed her breathing & let go of this world.
I let her son Comanche say his goodbye’s to her & will try now to focus on all the positives... Now he & I can go for walks again as I never wanted to leave her behind. He & I can go to the park again & play Frisbee.
I felt blessed to have my niece Melissa here with me & she brought the sweetest stuffed bear with a curly coat just like the Chessie’s have. I’ve been holding on to her and brushing the soft coat with my fingers, remembering how it felt to hug & love on Shawnee. I’ve also added her dog tag to the heart necklace my sister Loreli gave me last month. Inside is a heart shaped charm with paw prints on it; she understands how much I love my dogs.
My late husband Brian loved all his animals but he had a special place in his heart for her. He took her through the dog shows & she won not only in conformation but obedience, which was unheard of for Chesapeake’s. Its how she got one of her many nick names… “Shawnee Show girl” because she loved to perform with him in the show arena. I called her “my little apricot” because of the way her coat would take on an orange hue in the summer months and I hated the term used in AKC for their light blonde called “dead grass”.
She also brought us two other dogs to love in Sioux & Comanche out of a litter of 8 puppies, of which she only had 6 teats, so every two hours when the pups where feeding I had the job of rotating them out so everyone got their fair share. She was an excellent nurturer. Even as I had a miscarriage, she jumped up on the couch just to lay there by my side and comfort me.
We hiked everywhere we could, swam everywhere we could & traveled everywhere they would allow dogs and when they didn’t we brought the motor home. She was, still is a part of my family.
Shawnee is now reunited with the love of her life, our 1st Chesapeake, our 140 pound Chinook & her Daddy Brian, as well as her daughter Sioux in heaven.. I still remember the excitement I had in picking her from the litter in Sacramento. She never made a sound the whole way home. We placed the dog crate on the front lawn & proceeded into greet Chinook after being gone several days. We let him out onto the front lawn to “do his business” and as he was heading towards his favorite tree he smelled something that momentarily distracted him. He stretched out as far as he could towards that smell & this sweet 8 week old puppy let out the most ferocious growl, far bigger than her size, to which he responded by promptly lifting his leg & peed on her. Welcome home!
I will remember all the love & joy she brought to my life & take comfort knowing she’s not suffering any more. She’s free once again over that Rainbow Bridge, riding the waves with Brian. She is after all a Chesapeake & oh, how they love the water!!!
God Bless you my “fur angel”…
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