Good-bye to Trudy

I have shared several times about our dog, Trudy. One of the sweetest dogs we ever had and a great little fun-loving companion. The way she came to us in the first place was remarkable in itself. After our Miniature Schnauzer Allie died, we thought maybe we shouldn't get another dog, but of course, after you're used to having a lovable dog around, you miss it and the house just feels empty. After a long search to find one exactly like her, it just wasn't happening. That is, until one day after looking at a number of possible dogs to adopt, we showed a pic to the lady at the humane society to tell her this is what we are looking for and the dog has to be like this. We left and about 30 minutes later, received a call saying that a woman and a little girl had just found a dog wandering about their neighborhood. The dog matched our description and would we be interested? Heck yeah! We went over, found this sweet dog and loved her from the beginning.

This docile looking little dog was quite deceiving. We discovered early on that she was a bolter and most likely, that is why she was out wandering the neighborhood where the little girl had found her. We spent many, many times chasing this dog down because she could sneak out of a barely open door faster than anything. She loved going for walks, chasing rabbits, and swimming in the pool.

Let's walk!

The past two years have been difficult as we watched her go silent into a world of old age and dementia. The last year has been especially trying as I have had to carry her to the places she needed to be - to her bed, her food and water bowls, and outside to take care of business. She never made a peep of complaint, just wagged that little tail expressing her happiness at being with the people she knew loved her. Friends and family suggested gently many times that it was time to let Trudy go, but we just couldn't do it. I prayed that she would go peacefully because it would have broken DH's heart had I taken her to be put down. Especially these last two weeks it has been hard to deal with because DH's surgery is getting closer now and I didn't know what to do about her.

Wednesday night I attended a special memory care support group and the pastor asked for prayer requests. As I explained my DH's love for Trudy and his denial about her condition, my prayer request was that Trudy would die peacefully before Friday morning because I had decided we could wait no longer and she would have to be put down.

That night, DH held her in his lap for the last time. As I tucked her into her bed, she was barely breathing and I told her we loved her and it was okay for her to go.

On Thursday morning, I went to take her from her bed as usual, and discovered she had passed away.

We loved this dog and I knew how much she meant to DH and I was never convinced that putting her down was the right thing to do because of my concern for him. I share this to say how thankful I am that God does care about the events and concerns in our lives and He knew this would be best. I am so thankful to You, Lord for letting Trudy go peacefully in her sleep.

My friend Bettye and Trudy had a great friendship and so it just seemed fitting

that she be buried in Bettye's back yard out in the country.