Mia

Mia was so small and precious when she was a puppy. As I said before, she came to us by surprise. She grew into a lovely young lady. She looked a lot like Mo, except she was almost all black and mo has big white blotches on him with black spots in the white. She had a little white sock on her left front paw. As she grew, she became tall and lean. Her face was pristine. She looked very regal. Her big brown eyes would scream curiosity and love. I remember her so well. Yet, I wish I had a picture of her so you could see how great she was. For all of her girlish features, she was just as rowdy and playful as her brother. She loved to be dirty. She hated bathes, or anything to do with water. She couldn't stand loud noises. My husband had a remote control car and he would run up and down in front of our house. The noise would make her crazy. But, she was a very well behaved dog. Especially after we had her spayed, she calmed down a lot.
October 9th of Last year. It was a sunday. We nearly always eat lunch at my mother's house after church. Then we'll visite, sometimes all afternoon. This particular day we were gone until around 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. When we got home hubby noticed Mia wasn't acting right. I came out to give my assesment. Living with dogs and other animals you get to know them. You study about them and just by being around with them you pick up certain things. When I walked out the front yard, she didn't run up to me. I walked over to her and she maneged to stand up for a minute, then collapesed. She was weak, and mouning. She was cold to the touch, I'll never forget that chill. Her gums were white and her tongue sort of hung out of her mouth. I knew she was in trouble. My hubby picked her up in one scoop and we jumped into the car and flew to the vet. One the way I cried. Hubby said not to jump to conclusions. She was still moving a lot and her tail would wag occasionally. But, she was sooo cold. One of her back leggs seemed to be just hanging limp. Like it was no longer connected to the hip joint. I really prepaired myself for her to die. The vet made his assesment. Basically he didn't know what was wrong. Then came the question of "How far do you want to take this". He said we could drive her to the University a couple of hours a way and see what they could do for her, we could leave her with him over night and see what he can do, or we could take her home and see what happens. We opted to take her home. He said he wasn't sure weither she would live or not, but our best chance would be to stay with her. We layed out a bed of blankets in our livingroom foor. She layed down and didn't move much after that. She did take a few drinks, which was encouragement to my husband. He decided maybe we should get a second opinion. I called another vet to see what he could do. He was out of town, but would be on his way back in an hour. He would meet us at the office. Then she took a turn for the worse. I remember she seemed to be convulsing, I knew she was dieing. It was so painful, there was nothing we could do but hold her. Her breathing slowed. Then it was several seconds before another breathe, then a minute. Then two. Finally, she trembled one more time and she was gone. I was upset, but hubby came apart. It was the saddest momment of my life. He was absolutley heart broken. We held each other, then he would hold her, then back to me again. We never did find out for sure what happened. There was talk amoung some neighbors that some kids were hanging around our fence then she let a big yelp and well you get the picture. I researched her symptoms over the internet and I think it was shock that actually killed her. Weither it was an injury or not.
For those of you who are thinking, "its nuts to get so torn up over a dog", I understand what you mean. I probably would've thought the same way if it hadn't been me. By all accounts, we loved her as if she was our child. Just the same as our other two. I still feel love in my heart when I think of her.
Hubby, my dad, and my brother buried her just behind our fence. Last spring hubby poured concrete over the spot and set a little cross up with her name on it. He put soil over the concrete so that next spring I can plant some flowers there.