I write with a heavy heart today. I lost my Sadie Girl yesterday. A nine year old, black lab. A sad day! Dear Lord, thank you for taking her in peace, she died under her tree. The place she felt safe. You see, Sadie was totally blind since birth. My grand-daughter , Kaitlyn , had saved her money and bought her for $100.00 nine years ago. I remember when Kent brought her over one day and asked me to keep and ‘eye’ on her. He sensed something was wrong. I took her out in the yard. Showed her a ball and threw it a few feet. No response! I agreed something wasn’t right. Through the next few months he sent her to the University of Ga. She was totally blind. They tried putting her in a huge pen but she was a puppy. One day she got out and Erin, Kaitlyn’s mom, was running down the street, seven months pregnant trying to catch her. It was suggested to Kent he might want to consider putting her down. That was not an option.

Things went fairly well until they moved to a new neighborhood. All of the back yards combined into one big yard. A yard full of children and now a huge, black blind dog, was a nightmare waiting to happen. We tried to bring her to my house. I unfortunately, found out that I was slowly losing my sight. We were not sure if that would work. I already had two dogs, JD and Mutley. Sadie still had a lot of puppy in her. I had an extension built on the fence, but she was not happy. I remember one day, Kent came over. We decided to take her out in the yard on a leash. OPPS! Within five seconds she wrapped her leash around me and I went flying in the air and landed on my back. I have to say, Kent and I both laughed.
Kent was determined ! Remember she was Kaitlyn’s dog. They found a dog school to send her to. She did great. Thank God they taught her to STOP! when she was near you. I have a few old scars on my leg . She could clock you good. They told Kent she fell in love with a golden retriever. She followed him everywhere.

I must say, Sadie had a very loud bark. The new neighbors were not happy.
I had recently lost my JD. I was so sad. Mutley girl was getting old. I said, no more dogs!! I always tell Kaitlyn. God said, well that is not my plan. I am sending you a blind dog. One Saturday it was pouring down rain. Kent brought Sadie over and said, Mom , I can’t keep her. Let’s give her one more chance at your house. But he asked me to not chain her up, I agreed. I live on seven acres so the neighborhood boys would not be a problem. I did have some concerns about Mutley. She was a girl dog also. She made it more than clear, she did not like other dogs in our yard. I went and had a talk with her. I said, Mutley! Sadie is coming to stay here. She is blind and I want you to show her the ropes. You are absolutely not allowed to show her where the street is. I wish I had a picture of the two of them sitting together at the top of the driveway. I think Mutley liked her new responsibility. Sadie still had a lot of puppy in her. She loved Mutley. I remember when Sadie would stand at Mutley’s dog house and bark like crazy for her to come and play. It was a good thing, Mutley lost her hearing.

We almost lost Mutley when she went under Chase’s car. She didn’t hear the car start and Chase hit her. Oh my gosh! It was horrible. I forgot to mention, Mutley was Chase’s dog. He got her for his tenth birthday. Thank God she survived. The vet said I needed to make her a house dog. We tried that for a few days and Mutley would have nothing to do with it. She wanted to be outside. She still had a job to do. Sadie rolled her in the driveway a few times but within a few weeks Mutley was like brand new.

Three years later…. Mutley was starting to show her age. I always say when a dog starts getting skinny in the their backside, they are dying soon. She was wearing out. My neighbor had a new boxer, Romo. Oh my gosh is he cute. He would show up in the back yard to play with Sadie. One day I noticed Mutley look at them, as if she was saying.. she’ll be ok. She died the next day. We were going to the beach in a few days. A friend of mine , Brenda, and her sister were house sitting and taking care of Sadie.

We were at the beach. Kaitlyn said she was worried about Sadie since Mutley died. I said, oh! I forgot to tell you. She has a new boy friend! Kent was in the room and said WHAT? Mom you do know that Sadie isn’t fixed. It never crossed my mind. Actually out of the many dogs we had over the years, only three of them were females I called Kyle, Romo’s ‘dad’ said he thought they were fine. Brenda said , Oh no they are not! OH ME! When I came home there was a huge note from Brenda on the wipeoff board. Sadie isn’t eating and threw up all over the carport. I thought, OH No! she has morning sickness. Which goggle said is a possibility. She showed every sign of pregnancy. I have a lot of friends who know a lot more than I do about animals. They all agreed! She was pregnant. When we thought it might me time for her to deliver she found a spot in the yard. Actually, where I built the extension to the fence and began nesting. My friend, Anna told me to let her be, Sadie would let me know if she needed my help. I had a friend, Linda, come for the weekend. I insisted that she sleep in my room and I would take the couch. I could hear Sadie better from the den. One in the morning, I heard her barking. I thought, it must me the puppies. I ran down the basement, she had accidently gotten locked in the basement porch. She went back to her nesting place. Several hours later I heard her yelping, loudly. I thought it was to be the puppies. Again, I ran down the basement. I forgot my glasses and it was pitch dark. I went outside and said, where are you Sadie? She was hanging on the edge of the pool. Oh my gosh, I jumped in and lead her to the steps. Evidently, when she went back to her nesting place she brushed by a bush that had tons of bees. They were stinging her and she ran into the water. I was awake all night thanking God she did not drown.
Linda woke up the next morning and said,’ did you sleep well?’ I said, NO! I told her the story she was laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face. I don’t know what happened about the puppies. I have heard stories. I do know that Sadie was traumatized several times that day and possibly she lost them. The man that Kaitlyn bought her from said, she will never forget you saved her life.

She slept outside until the big snow storm. I have always said, if my dogs aren’t there to eat in the morning , something is wrong. She wasn’t there. Thank God my neighbor called and said, ‘don’t you have a blind dog? I said YES! She had gone down the street and showed up at a neighbors house at midnight. Thank God she went to the right and up their driveway. If she would have gone left she would have ended up in a pond. Tibby called me and we agreed to meet in the middle of Hobby Lane. I died laughing when I saw her on a leash. She did not like a leash. I was so excited to see her. She acted as if she didn’t know me. Tibby agreed to walk her up my driveway. When we got in the house she knew who I was. I assume she lost her sense of smell in the snow. From that night on, she slept in the house every night and listen to Il Divo.

( A paragraph from my story, Holding Onto Hope )
“ Il Divo is a classical singing group. They are phenomenal singers. My blind dog, Sadie, will not go to sleep at night unless I turn on their CD, ‘her music.’ It plays all night, therefore some nights we wait until she starts whining before we turn it on. Let me say here, I am not so sure that Sadie is not jealous of Chase being home. She certainly seems to whine more than usual when he is here. I came home from the hospital that night. Il Divo was blasting ,actually louder than usual. Chase was upstairs, I said, “Chase, did you have to come downstairs and turn on Il Divo for Sadie?” He said, “Yep right after you left.” It was so nice to laugh out loud, twice !!!!’

She became really spoiled over the years. She was not stupid. I made the mistake of giving her a treat one night. She would play a game with me every night. She waited to come in until she heard the treat drop. Some nights she would want two …. Or three. She loved to play but she would hide her toys. I am very creative. I made her toys out of empty, plastic, laundry soap containers. They were all over the yard. Every morning at 10:00 she would come to the door. I would say, do you want to come in. She would turn her head and nod it up and down. Which meant, no! come and play. She was amazing. She would hear it land in the driveway and ‘grid’ until she found it.

Several weeks ago her entire eye turned red. I had an understanding with the vet, Dr. Hendricks. If one of the animals was dying I would not come to the office. One of the boys had to take them. I am known to make ‘donkey noises’ when they die. Erin said that Kent was worried they may have to put her down.
I agreed she the vet thought they should , I would accept it. He gave her eye drops and antibiotics. But he warned us that she may have to have her eye removed. It totally freaked me out. After a week of medicine she was doing better so thankfully we did not have to make that decision. I was so shocked how she would let me put her drops in. I would hold her close and give her and extra hug. I noticed she was getting old, but her backside was not skinny yet so I assumed we had some time left. She was sleeping more. She had a favorite spot under the bay window or under the Japanese maple tree. I also noticed she was losing her hearing.

Justin, the young man who has cut my grass for several years was cutting the grass. He came to the door hysterical. “ Kathy, I hit Sadie” of course I am hysterical too. He said, she just darted out from under the bushes, which she never had done before. He said that she knocked her head, slightly. He jumped off the mower to see if she was ok. She just laid down. We didn’t know what to do. I got hold of Erin and she suggested we get her in Justin’s truck and she would meet him at the vets. Sadie was huge. I tried to call a neighbor to help him. Finally, I thought, oh for Petes Sake, I can help him. I went back outside, and Justin said, she just died. Actually, Justin didn’t hit her. She ran out in front of him and nicked her head on the mower. She hit it right where her eye injury was. I have known Justin since he was five. He has always had a tender heart. I knew he would take it hard. I hope I convinced him it wasn’t his fault. It was her time. As I said in the beginning. I am so thankful that God took her quickly and she died in peace under her favorite tree. where she felt safe.

Although, I adopted Sadie, she never forgot that Erin was her first mom, They had a bond, it was enduring to watch. She always knew, no matter how busy Kent was he would always stop and throw her her toy. She adored my neighbors, Carla and her son Chase, who would always be there if I went out of town. She knew the people who loved her.

Our dogs can teach us many life lessons. Unconditional love, companionship and loyalty. I remember when Brent wrote a story in the third grade. Dogs have different personalities. So true, each one of our dogs had their own personality and their own story. Dogs can develop live time friendships among each other and grief the one that goes first. We did have a few other pets: birds; Corkey, Penelope, and Happy. A guinea pig named Bump and one named Termite. A horse named Topel ( that is a story in itself) Harry and Larry the two fishes. Two finches But, for me, our dogs were my favor memories. I have had friends say, ‘when I die I want to come back as your dog!” I also loved them unconditionally and always had a story to tell about each one of them . Everything becomes a memory…. And they are all good ones.
In memory…Nicky, Winston, Brandy, Fred , Freddy, Red, Speedy, Herby, Prudence, Dixie, Killer, Thelma Louise, little Ace, Ace, JD, Champ, Bear, Fifi, Mutley and my Sadie Girl and Copper.
Ps Copper is my son’s dog. Right now he is grounded at my house for being a
little snippy. I really don’t think I want another dog but then again, it may not be God’s plan.