Windi

On my birthday in 1996, we decided to get a puppy. The local kennel owner that my husband had talked to invited us to come see her Shelties, or Shetland Sheepdogs. As soon as we got out of the car I knew I wanted one. We had to wait until one of her dogs got pregnant, but as soon as one did, Sandra, the owner, called us to let us know we'd have the pick of the litter. What a privilege.

When she called us to tell us the puppies were here we couldn't get down there fast enough to see them. Oh, how cute they were! Such wiggly, pitiful balls of cuteness! As the weeks went on, those pitiful little pups became adorable little fluff balls. We were having a hard time picking one out, but it was pretty much between the only male and the littlest female. My choice was the female, but Sound Man still wasn't sure.

Until this happened.

At that moment, he looked at Sandra and said, "We want her."

Then came the process of naming her. Sandra showed her dogs under the kennel name "Vogue," so any dog registered with the AKC from her kennel would start their name with "Vogue."

Vogue Gone With the Wind. Windi.

Even though she ended up being too small to show, she was the sweetest, prettiest, most likeable dog in the world. I wondered if I would ever stop thinking she was the prettiest thing on four legs. I never did.

She became our everything. We were trying to get pregnant and when month after month of negative tests kept coming, Windi was our baby girl. She slept on our bed every night and woke us up with sweet doggy kisses.

Even after Kiddo made his appearance she was still our baby girl. She tolerated this new little wiggly human, and never EVER tried to bite him or even growl...okay, maybe she did growl at him when he pulled her fur. But she never snapped at him, even when he was royally on her nerves.

She stopped being able to jump on our bed a few of years ago, so she stopped sleeping at the foot of our bed about the time Jonathan started. She also started having trouble holding it to go out. Then she started losing her sight. And her hearing.

Even after all of this she was still in relatively good health. She would lie around most of the day, but every once in a while she would jump on Jonathan, wagging her tail as if to say, "I'm not too old to take you down, you young whippersnapper!" This told us she was still kicking. Until Sunday.

Sunday morning, around 4:00 a.m, she woke me up breathing funny. I let her and Jonathan outside, where she made it to the grass, did her business, then collapsed. I couldn't get her to stand back up. I ran and got Sound Man to help me with her. He stayed with her the rest of the night, letting me go back to bed because I had to be at church early and he didn't. Her breathing was labored and she had had what he thought were seizures or strokes, yelping with each one. She never got better, and by that afternoon, we knew what we had to do.

He took her to the Emergency Animal Hospital that afternoon after Kiddo and I had said our tearful goodbyes. Kiddo rode with him...Sound Man said he felt like this was closure for him to do that. Kiddo didn't stay in the room while they administered the medicine, but was there until the very last moment when he had to leave.

We buried her in the back yard, right next to Shadow, who would have been gone a year just five days from the day Windi died.

It has been so hard not to hear her "tickity tickity tickity" nails on the hardwood floors. So hard not to see her lying in her kennel, fast asleep. So hard not to laugh at her messing with Jonathan. I know it was for the best, just like it was with Shadow. But how it hurts.

What a year of loss since last May. I'm ready for my heart to quit aching.

I love you, Windi girl.