We had a rough night here. Baby was in a lot of pain for most of the evening and I held her for as long as she could take it. She passed away about an hour ago. She's finally at peace and has no more pain.
She came to me 14 years ago at Christmas as a puppy. I wasn't looking for a dog, I had 2 parrots at the time, but she was about to land in the possession of one who would not take good care of her, so she came home with me.
She was a little bundle of fur that resembled a baby golden retriever. I thought maybe I had a mixed one of sorts. When she grew up her legs stayed short. People thought she was a GR that was sitting down. Her nickname for a long time was "Low Rider"
She didn't have a pedigree and we didn't even know who her father was, but she was one smart cookie. She named herself as well as house breaking herself. She would be mortified if she had an accident. She could wait 14 hours if she had to, but on the few occasions that she couldn't make it, she would use a newspaper and somehow manage to fold up the edges when she was done into a nice neat package ready for me to dispose of. I found myself apologizing to her for making her do it.
In the early years we traveled to many places sometimes by car, but usually by private boat. She had a tendency to be car and boat sick, but she would always be very neat about it. On the boat she aimed for the scuppers.
She learned to swim as most dogs do, but she had to learn very quickly not to head for land but to head back to the swim platform on the boat. It wasn't long before she was climbing the ladder out of the water. When it was time to go in the water, with a little help up on the edge of the boat, she would be ready to make her dive.
