Posts Tagged With: memories

Sweet Lula, Gone But Never Forgotten

Yesterday the Chessie world lost a great ambassador for the breed, Lula R. Chessie, although I had never met Lula or her person Pam in person they touched my life through the wonderful world of facebook, you can find her page here. Some of the outrageous stories of Lula’s antics would make my day and of course make me laugh out loud. Lula was a rescue Chessie, you can read her story here.

One of my very favorite stories about Lula is the year she ate the Thanksgiving turkey, I laughed so hard it brought tears to my eyes, you can read all about it here.

So dear Lula you are free now to run and play with all the special pups that have gone before you, if you see my sweet Shadowdancer give her a great big Chessie hug for me!

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Categories: Memories | Tags: , , , , | 15 Comments

Sweet, Sweet Memories

As I was updating my website the other day it occurred to me that this year marks my 20th Anniversary of owning Chessie’s or maybe them owning me! I thought back to my first Chessie, Shadowdancer, she was a wonderful dog and I miss her terribly at times. She is the Aunt to Riva and Cheyenne and Great Aunt to Maia and Titan; I can see her in my girls now and then with certain actions and attitudes they have. She was definitely my heart dog but you know as each one comes in my life I think they all become my heart dogs just in a different way. I truly love this breed and could never imagine my life without them.

When I went back to school I had to take a Comp I class and in the very first class our assignment was  to write a short paper on anything we wanted so the professor could see how we wrote. My first thought was oh great how am I supposed to write a paper when I have no clue what I am doing, I am not a writer! So I decided to write about Shadowdancer, I felt that if I wrote something I was passionate about maybe it would turn out okay. Because I am feeling a little sad and happy at the same time as I think back to my time with her I would like to share that paper with you, so here goes.

My Chessie

     I met my dear friend Robin about twenty years ago at a group home for severely

developmentally disabled adults. We worked the midnight shift together, and every night she

would bring her Chesapeake Bay Retrievers to work. I had never seen a Chessie before or even

heard of them. I soon fell in love with her dog Jessa. She was a seventy five pound deadgrass,

which as you might guess is the color of dead grass. She was always so gentle and loving to the

residents. They would light up when she came to greet them, and she would sit by their

wheelchairs and lay her head in their laps. At meal times the residents could be pretty messy so

Robin would call the cleanup crew and the dogs would come running to clean up every last

crumb of food on the floor. The more I got to know her dogs I knew this was the breed for me.

 

     In 1993 Robin gave me my first Chessie from Jessas’ last litter for my birthday. She was a

deadgrass just like her mother. I had a difficult time coming up with a name. Nothing seemed to

fit, until one evening I was outside playing with her when I noticed that she had discovered her

shadow. She was jumping around trying to catch it, so she became my Shadowdancer. She was

one big bundle of brown fluff. She loved to go everywhere with me. Nothing ever seemed to

bother her. When she was four months old we traveled out west through many states with Robin

and three other Chessies. They all traveled well with each other. We saw a lot of interesting

wildlife, elk, bear, moose, buffalo, which never seemed to phase any of the dogs. The dogs

especially liked hiking through the mountains with us. When she was six months old I started

showing her in conformation dog shows. That proved to be quite a learning experience for both

of us. I made a lot of mistakes but she always forgave me. She loved to retrieve for me and

would bring anything I threw for her back to me. Her favorite thing to do was swim. That is

when I learned the stubborn deaf ear side of a Chessie. I would stand on shore calling and

bribing but nothing was more enticing than the water to her. Eventually she would come out at

her leisure so I would have to be quick and grab her. I always ended up soaked.

 

     The years rolled by and when she was eleven I took her in to the vet to have her leg checked.

I never thought it would be anything serious. When the Dr. came back into the room to talk to

me I could tell by her face it was bad news. She showed me the x-ray that revealed bone cancer.

She then informed me that bone cancer is very aggressive and most dogs only have about

fourteen weeks left. So we went home with medication to make her comfortable. I started to

prepare myself for the day I would have to make the decision of euthanasia. I prayed that she

would go in her sleep so I would not have to make that decision, but in the end I held her head in

my lap and said good bye to my best friend as the Dr. gave her the shot that would stop her pain

and her heart. I will forever miss her.

As I read through it again I see how I could have made it much better and some day maybe I will!

This is me and my sweet girl in 2004 a few months before I lost her. She was my best friend and protector, loving me with her whole heart and I tried my very best to return that love to her.

Me & Shadowdancer

Ro-Lyns Jessas Shadowdancer

Eleven years old

Categories: Memories | Tags: , , , , | 22 Comments

2011 in Review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,600 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 60 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Categories: Misc. | Tags: , , | 6 Comments

Wordless Wednesday~Puppy Love

Categories: Wordless Wednesday | Tags: , , , , , | 5 Comments

The More the Merrier

I was looking for a poem that  expressed how much I love my dogs, although I didn’t find exactly what I was looking for I did find this one. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

Bet You Can’t Own Just One!  

author unknown

  Why own a dog? There’s danger you know

  You can’t own just
one, the craving will grow


There’s no doubt they’re addictive, wherein lies the danger

  While living with
lots, you’ll grow poorer and stranger.


One dog is so funny, and two are no trouble

  The third one is easy, the fourth one’s a
honey

  The fifth’s
delightful, the sixth one’s a breeze,

You find you can live
with a house full with ease.


So how ’bout another? Would you really dare?

  They’re really quite easy, but Lord, the
hair.

  With dogs on
the sofa, and dogs on the bed,

  And crates in the kitchen, It’s no bother,
you’ve said,


They’re really no trouble, their manners are great,

  What’s just one more
dog, and one more crate?


The sofa is hairy, the windows are crusty,

  The floor is all footprints, the furniture is
dusty,

  The
housekeeping suffers, but what do you care?

  Who minds a few nose prints, and a little
more hair?


So let’s keep a puppy, you can always find room,

  And a little more time for the dust cloth and
broom,

  There’s
hardly a limit to the dogs you can add,

  The thought of a cutback sure makes you
sad.


Each one is so special, so useful, so funny,

  The vet, the food bills grow larger, you owe
money,

  Your folks
never visit, few friends come to stay,

  Except other dog folks, who live the same
way.


Your lawn has now died, and your shrubs are dead too,

  But your weekends
are busy, you’re off with your crew,

  There’s dog food and vitamins, and training
and shots,

  And
entries and motels which cost lots.


Is it worth it you wonder? Are you caught in a trap?

Then your favorite dog comes and climbs in your lap,

  His look says your
special, and you know that you will

  Keep all of the critters, in spite of the
bill.

Categories: Cheyenne & Riva | Tags: , , | 10 Comments

Memories

Did some more cleaning today in preparation for puppies :)   Also baked a Mexican Chocolate Cake for my nephew; how could I not when he says to me yesterday “you know what I’ve been craving lately” my mistake was to say what, haha. Kind of a lazy day all in all but I was looking at old pictures and thought I would share some with you.

"Lap Dogs" COBO DKC Show 2010

Riva's first swim and the first week she came home with me

My first Chessie "Shadowdancer" and my neice & nephew Hailee & Schawn about 7 or 8 years ago

Cheyenne (in front) and her sister Searra ( who thinks she should have come to live with me)

Riva watching Cheyenne, Searra and Reveler (brother) swim

Categories: Misc. | Tags: , , , , , | 6 Comments

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