Sadie

It took a while for my heart to heal enough to write this blog.  In April of this year, Dave and I were on our way home when we passed a sign that read "Golden Retriever for sale."  We drove around the block in order to get a good look at the sign and came to a stop in front of a corner house with a chain link fence.  As we sat there, a beautiful, red, golden retriever came to the fence and stared back at us. 

It was love at first sight.  I had to have her.  We called the number listed and, the very next day, Sadie came to live with us.  She was only nine months old and loved to play with Lily!  Lily gave us many long suffering sighs and weary glances as she tolerated Sadie's puppyness.  Sadie would attack Lily out of the blue, chomping on her ears, standing on her back, chasing her around the yard... basically everything that Lily has done to Amerah.  Lily didn't much appreciate having the tables turned on her like that.

Sadie quickly became very attached to us.  She loved to sleep on my feet.

She loved to play with her "sissy"

Sadie and Lily would often gang up on Amerah...

Sadie came to us with no toys at all.  It was immediately apparent that she didn't even know HOW to play with toys.  All she knew was that Lily liked them so they must be something of interest.  Every time Lily picked up a toy, Sadie would steal it from her and then set it down.  She didn't want to play with it, she just didn't want Lily to have it.  I was happy that Lily had finally found someone besides ME to play tug-o-war with!!

She quickly learned that Daddy was a good playmate...

And cuddler...

 At first, the only time Sadie and Lily would sleep anywhere near each other, was when they both wanted to be on the couch with Daddy (or Amerah)...

 

Slowly they seemed to get more and more comfortable with each other...

In one short month, Sadie had wormed her way into our hearts and our home.  We loved her, and cuddled her, and she knew how very loved she was.  Sadie would sit up on her hind legs and give me her paws to hold.  We loved how she loved to hold hands.  When I was sitting, she would stretch up on her hind legs, place her front paws on my shoulder, and lay her head sideways on my chest.  She LOVED doing this and I would of course cuddle her and tell her how much Mama loves getting hugs.

On May 22nd and 23rd, we noticed that Sadie wasn't very hungry, which was unusual. We coaxed her to eat but kept an eye on her because it just wasn't like her. The night of the 23rd and morning of the 24th, she ate just fine.

On May 24th she seemed just fine. Dave and I went to the grocery store. We came home about 3 pm and she was excited to see us and seemed normal. About 3:30 I noticed that she was standing by Dave while he was petting her but she looked "sad" and wasn't wagging her tail like usual.

 Amerah arrived home around 4:15 pm and Sadie was excited again and followed her out into the backyard as usual. Shortly after, Amerah came into the house saying that there was "something wrong with Sadie." She was lying by the garage and wouldn't come when she was called (which again was unusual). Dave went out and coaxed her into the house.

Sadie came into the house and went directly into her cage and lay down. No amount of coaxing from either Dave or Amerah would get her to come out. I was in the kitchen and I called to her, knowing that, although she sometimes ignores Dave and Amerah, she NEVER ignores me when I call. She didn't come. 

 I went into the family room and she still wouldn't come out. We decided to take her to the vet. We left immediately. When we got to the vet we noticed that she looked worse. You could tell by her body language that something was wrong. She lay on the floor and wouldn't come to any of us when we called her. Finally, she stood up with effort, and walked slowly over to me so that I could pet her.

 The doctor examined her and was concerned. Her temp was normal but he wasn't sure what was wrong and wanted xrays and bloodwork. We agreed of course. The thought was that she had eaten something she shouldn't and we might be looking at surgery.

They took her for xrays and Amerah went into the hall and said that she could hear Sadie making a lot of noises. I got up to see what was going on. She had gone into cardiac arrest. They resuscitated her and gave her something to help her breathe. Her bloodwork was showing a sky high white blood cell count. Her heart stopped three more times. The last time they were unable to resuscitate. Our sweet baby was gone.

Apparently her previous owners only took her for her first shots and didn't finish the series. After we bought her, Dave and I took her in for shots, but it was too little too late. She died of distemper. The vet believes that she had it before we even got her but wasn't showing any symptoms yet. There is no cure for distemper, there is only prevention. There was nothing anyone could have done to save her.

I walked into the vet thinking the worst case scenario was surgery. I never expected that I would walk out without my sweet baby. It was beyond unexpected.  We are shocked and devastated.  2 years ago, if anyone had told me that I could become this attached to an animal I wouldn't have believed them.  She was my baby. Sadie and Lily are the only creatures in this world who know me as Mama.  This was preventable, this was due to her previous owners negligence.  Amerah was there with us and was devastated.  I sobbed uncontrollably, I couldn't stop crying.  Dave was trying to hold it together for me and for Amerah but was choking back tears.  



Even now, as I type this, I am tearing up.  We are trying to take comfort in the knowledge that, for the last month of her life, Sadie was cuddled, and played with, and loved beyond measure.  She had a Mama and a Daddy, a sissy and a playmate, all of whom doted on her and held her when she needed comfort.  


The following photo is my favorite.  It was taken just as she was about to stand up on her hind legs to give me one of her "hugs."  It also captures her goofy personality beautifully.

We miss her still.