Our hearts are breaking with the loss of our beloved dog, Ivy. She has been our constant companion for the past 15 ½ years. She had slowed down very little considering her age but these last two weeks we knew something was very wrong. One of the hard things of being on the road with an older dog is finding a competent veterinarian. After a bad experience with the first vet we took her to, we found a wonderful vet that told us that she was 99% sure that Ivy had a brain tumor. We took her home with a lot of sadness and decided to do the wait and see thing but before we left the vet’s office she gave us the “what’s better for Ivy and not us” talk. We needed that talk because we just didn’t want to let go but after watching Ivy struggle to walk, eat and sleep we knew it was time. So we said our good-byes and let her go.
Ivy was our champion. She had always been our hiker. Once she hiked with us for over 4 hours in Superior National Forest in Grand Marais, MN and she was over 10 yrs old. Up to the last two weeks it was nothing for her to take a 3 mile walk with us. Ivy’s only issue was she had become a Velcro dog after her sister Abby died last year. She wanted to be able to see us all the time and stuck to us like Velcro. We didn’t mind. We had asked so much of her for 15 plus years this was so little to give her in return. Ivy was the butt of our kid’s jokes. Sometimes it hurt us but we knew they loved her too. After all, Ivy was our favorite (sorry Zach) and we knew we had spoiled her.
People have asked if we will get another dog. Right now it hurts to much to even think about another dog but I can tell you that our home feels empty. I am a true believer that things happen for a reason. If we are meant to have another dog in our lives it will happen.
For all you dog lovers – toss them a ball, give them an extra treat, and give them a pat on the head to show them your love. They are here today and gone tomorrow!