Kassie was to be her name. I had every intention of calling her that, but things happened...
I found her at the humane society. I missed Rex, our black lab. Well I decided I was going in. When I got back where the dogs were, she reached through the cage and slapped my hand. I knew in an instant, that was MY DOG.
She was beautiful. She was four months old and potty trained and knew her commands. She was in the top row of cages. I looked at others in the same room but my eyes went back to her. I just knew in my heart she would be mine.
I found out her previous owners had allergy problems so they gave her up. She was healthy and playful as I found out.
Well I took her home. Jim wasn't too pleased, but he accepted her. We went out and bought her a big cushy, comfy dog pillow. Well, she POOPED all over it and that is how she got the name of POOPY. She hadn't even had it for 10 minutes. She had diarrhea so we threw it out. I couldn't believe it. That pillow would not stay in my house...
That name lasted the rest of her life. It just seemed to fit. We couldn't forget the incident and she actually seemed to like it. She started answering to it and to the name Kassie. Everyone loved her. Neighbor kids always played with her yelling Poopy, Poopy!! They just loved her and her name.
She was the smartest dog I've ever had. She knew what I was going to do even before I did. I was upstairs looking out the bedroom window, she was there looking up at me. Another time I was going downstairs to do laundry. She was sitting outside the window watching and doing her whole body wag at me. She knew I was coming, somehow... She knew when we were leaving and coming home. She would wait at the top of the stairs everyday. She freaked my brother out because he looked out the window, too, and there she was looking up and wagging all over.
We just seemed to be on the same page with everything. When I was down, she was with me. It seemed we knew what each other was thinking. It was almost eerie. No one understood our bond but me.
We had such a good life together. We went on walks, went to the Dunes and hiked. I took her for rides in the car. She and Zeke would go squirrel and rabbit hunting in the backyard. She was quite sneaky and quick.
She adjusted to a new baby in the house. She acted like his mom sometimes. She would watch every move he or others made around him. She let me know when he was doing something wrong. She was more than a dog to me. We were friends...
Near the end of her life, I made the mistake of trusting the vet. I told him she wasn't acting right. She was sleeping more and not as active. He dismissed it to age. I knew something else, but...
Three days later she couldn't get up. She laid in the backyard along the fence and wouldn't move. I rushed her back to the vet. It turned out she had an undiagnosed tumor in her spleen. It ruptured and she bled out. Massive internal bleeding. The first vet wasn't my regular vet, he was a fill-in. I was so angry. There was absolutely nothing they could do for her. She was so strong. Even after I decided to end her life and they gave her the injection, she wouldn't let go.
I laid with her on a blanket on the floor, petting and talking to her. Another vet came to help. They then gave her another injection. That didn't work. She just kept looking at me, wondering. I don't know if she wanted to keep fighting. The vet then told me to tell her it's ok. I'll be ok if she leaves me. I will make it. That she needed to end this. That was the hardest thing I ever had to do. She was clinging to life for me. I knew it was the right thing to do, so I told her. I told her I loved her and I would never forget her. I told her we'd be together someday. That's what it took. She closed her eyes, sighed and left me.
I'm crying as I type this. Poopy meant so much to me. All the feelings are flooding back. I haven't ever let myself think about all this. She was my Poopy Girl...I love her with everything I have. I just wish it were enough...
Rest in peace my sweet friend. You are loved and missed everyday...