Sad Day

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Amy

When I was growing up I had a black Cocker Spaniel named Velvet. I remember her death when I was 13 pretty clearly. I missed having a dog immediately and fiercely. As we had by then submersed ourselves in the horse show world, we decided we wanted the horse show dog ‘of the moment’ which was a Corgi. While at the Paint World in Fort Worth we saw an ad for Corgis and we called the number. What showed up was a truckfull of malnourished, sickly puppies sitting out in the rain while the backyard breeder wheeled and dealed. The suckers we WERE (backyard breeders are a huge pet peeve of mine now that I am involved with rescue) brought Windy home with us only to find she was covered in mange.

Windy was never a typical puppy, she never chewed anything up, never nipped your hand when playing, and looked at you with eyes that opened straight into an ‘old soul’. Windy was the big sister to Annie (who still lives with us) and Toby (who mom and dad put down a couple of years ago) and ‘mom’ to anyone and anything that would have her.

One of my favorite Windy tricks was that she could lead the horses, you could wave Ruby’s lead rope in front of her and she’d grab it and take off toward the barn, Ruby in tow.

She was clearly mom’s ‘heart dog’ and they have had an amazing bond for 13 years. This past year, Windy was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure and we knew it wouldn’t be long. She’s never been a healthy dog and I was secretly amazed she had made it to 13. Jon and I housesat at mom & dad’s last night while they took a mini anniversary trip. When we woke up this morning, Windy couldn’t support her hind end and was hacking, we took her to the vet where mom and dad met us and Windy spent the day under evaluation. Apparently the results were not good as mom had to decide to put her down this afternoon. The sweet Corgi has gone to the bridge. She will be missed