Sally Ann Goes Home

Sally

        In 2004, when we moved our alpacas and our dogs to new acreage and a new barn in anticipation of the completion of a new house, one of our dogs died suddenly, the apparent result of being swarmed by yellowjackets in that years very hot Summer. Despite the fact that we actually had veterinary epinephrine, we arrived likely minutes after she had passed.  We lost our golden retriever Albert that day who was a dear and gentle friend.

       A few weeks later, a female golden labrador, who could have been a sister to Albert arrived there. She had a cheap blue collar I noted had come from the Dollar Store.  She was in no hurry to leave. We fed and watered her, and tied her as we tried to locate her owners.  I put pictures of her with an information sheet at seven different local gas stations and grocers, and since we are very rural here, I placed some as far as thirty miles from here, since so many people commute. I contacted five animal shelters as lost animals in the country often originate from surprising distances, all to no avail.  No one called us, and no one locally had ever seen her before.  We took her to the vet to get her a rabies shot. The vet didn't know of anyone missing such a dog, and eventually they put us in touch with the local pound, where several weeks later, we adopted her.

               Our youngest son Daniel always enjoyed animals, and this one year old puppy was no exception.Daniel named her Sally. In fact, she also had a middle name, which was Ann.  She was very calm, sweet and devoted. She adapted quickly to our other dogs, and a couple of months later, we had her spayed. She enjoyed our farm animals, and she never ran off. She always stayed near the kids, and she watched them carefully.

                Finally the new house was complete, more farm buildings came, and four glorious years passed. In 2008, when both my father and Daniel who was only twelve and a half died of a sudden cardiac arrhythmia, all of our animals missed Daniel desperately. Sally had a way of listening as if she understood all that you were saying. She had a very comforting manner.  In the years which have passed, Daniel's dogs have all died one by one, each of them making it to quite advanced ages. Jake, the German Shepherd died the following year. Jared, the Siberian Husky also died at about sixteen. Rosheen, the Jack Russell Terrier was in her teens when she passed, and Mark, the black labrador who had seizures, finally died at thirteen. Alvin, a tricolor hound who came to us as a rescue was said to have been twenty when he died.  All through this time, Sally hung on. She was sweet and well, and it was hard to believe that she was as old as she was.  About three years ago, during her vet visit the vet prepared me for the probability that she would probably not make it through the Winter, due to her steadily advancing age. Of course, she did.

               In 2018 Sally had a stroke, and we knew from a dog we had some years ago who also had one, that if you can hand water and feed a dog through the acute phase of a stroke that many of them will recover almost completely within six weeks. So we worked hard to care for her. By six weeks she was nearly completely recovered, and the vet started her on an eighty milligram aspirin each day. We knew her days we limited, but we cared for this sweet dog as if she were human, just as Daniel would have done had he been here. My husband worked very hard to do her physical rehabilitation, and he has videos upon videos of her walking around the farm, in all weathers, sometimes with a coat on that resembles a turn out coat for horses. The vet was astounded at her continued longevity.

             The last few weeks have been rough. She has been failing, but she has not been in pain. We will euthanize our dogs if they are in pain or if they simply don't wish to eat or be cared for any longer, but she has just been slowing down, needing assistance with feeding, and using a sling in order to stand to use the bathroom and to ambulate.  Yesterday, she wasn't hungry and didn't want water. She wouldn't take my special home brew of lemon gatorade formulated for dogs.   Sally passed relatively quickly and easily tonight at midnight with my husband and I standing beside her telling her how glad we were to have had her join our family.  She passed on to Jesus and to Daniel tonight, who now has all of the dogs he knew here on Earth, with him. There is only one more alpaca who remains on Earth that Daniel knew, otherwise all of the animals here on the farm joined us after his departure. It's hard to imagine than eleven years have passed since the day that Daniel was called to leave us.

           Thank you Sally for being such a wonderful part of our lives through joy and through sadness. Please know you are loved very much. Daniel must be thrilled to have you with him now, and you will see your old friends and your beloved kennel mate Benjamin, whom I believe are also with Daniel, and with my father, who also always loved dogs.   Godspeed, sweet Sally Ann.