I lost my beloved Minnie yesterday. For all who are interested, I am
going to write a goodbye to my baby. Minnie was a Dachshund and was
12 1/2 years old and died of congestive heart failure. I never even
knew she was sick until I took her into the doctor yesterday. She
could no longer breathe on her own and died before her mother could
get there so Minnie could go die peacefully in loving arms. The vet
said that pets are very good at masking health problems and that even
if I got her into the vet earlier it would not have made a difference
either way.
I got Minnie in 1996 as a companion to her brother Jake, another
dachshund. The 2 were inseperable for all of their lives and spent
virtually every second of their time together. While Jake is very
mild-mannered and well behaved in every sense of the word, Minnie was
your stereotypical stubborn Dachshund. Even until the end we were
still butting heads on things! I let her get the best of me a lot of
times and I do regret getting upset with her and realize that I should
have been the "adult" in those situations. I guess in a lot of ways
we were both similar. Two high-strung types who want to get THEIR
way! I have learned a lot from Minnie and will always remember the
lessons that she taught me.
Above else Minnie loved to play. Whether it be chasing balls, chewing
nylabones, retrieving, etc., she was a natural born athlete. Even in
her later stages in life she could still play with the best of them
and loved nothing better than to have me throw the ball to her in the
living room when I got home from work when she was all wound up and
excited that I was home. Another thing about Minnie is that she
always knew what kind of mood I was in and was almost human-like in
her ability to sense everything around her and what was being said.
I miss her more than words can say and especially just the little
things that she would do in our normal day to day existence. You
never know how much you will miss them until they are gone and by then
it is too late to really soak everything in. Her mother and I buried
her in my backyard and we are going to plant some nice flowers on top
of her site as a memorial to her. I still have Jake and even though
he is close to 15 years old, diabetic, has trouble walking, and has
more than a touch of senility, he enjoys nothing more than being
petted and sitting on my lap. To him that is the greatest honor.
Even though I never got to say goodbye to Minnie, I left her to the
trust of the good people of the Moreland Vet hospital in ****tland, Or.
who did the best that they could do. I hope Minnie realizes that I
will always love her and that I am sorry I could not be there when she
went. She is in good hands now.
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