She’d been picked up as a stray  outside Spokane in the middle of winter, weighing just a scrawny 37 pounds at about one year of age. After a month at the shelter there with nobody adopting her, she was moved to the Seattle area. She had gained a bit of weight, now up to 47 pounds. Someone took her home, then returned her as “defective,” because they wanted a guard dog and they said “she didn’t bark at anything.” We adopted her and took her home early 2012. After a month with us, eating well, sleeping inside, and getting lots of love and exercise with our two then-young kids, she was up to 57 pounds.

One thing I can say with certainty: she had a heck of a serious-sounding and intimidating WOOF when she saw someone or something invading her territory, so I don’t know what her first potential adopter did wrong, but it was a good thing for us (and her). She went camping, to the beach, to eastern Washing, and everywhere else with us and the kids, and both us and the neighbor have large back yards to play in (which she loved). Our best guess, based on build and behavior was something like a border-collie/greyhound mix; deep chest, narrow waist, seriously fast sprinter and sight-hound tendencies, along with a strong herding instinct. She LOVED chasing waves back and forth at the beach. Her adult weight, most of her life, was around 70 pounds, and she didn’t gain any height since we adopted her, so she must have been really starving when picked up.

Traveling with a dog and kids is harder than just kids. Pet-friendly rentals, available off-leash areas, stopping regularly to let her pee and stretch her legs, one person walking her around outside the restaurant on the little grassy strip while the other three order and eat, then swapping.  Pets are not free, and a huge responsibility.  She was always very wary around men (except for me), but great around kids and women. Very much a lone dog, with her two-footed pack, we never adopted another to keep her company; she didn’t seem to want or need one. She was absolutely worth it.

When working from home, she made a great side-kick, snoozing gently nearby as we worked. She alerted us when the UPS guy was dropping off a package or other events happened. I have no idea how many times out on a walk she alerted on something (we live in a heavily wooded suburban area, and bears, cougars, bobcats, coyotes, and more frequent the area), turned around, and told us that it was time to nope! the heck out of there and head back.

But all good things must come to an end. At 14+ years of age, she was struggling to go up and down the stairs, was on two pain meds to be even sort of OK, and even with pee meds she needed to get a LOT of walks outside every day to avoid accidents in the house… but that meant going up and down the stairs to go outside.

She was going deaf and blind, and the only thing that apparently worked fine was her nose. It was time. All four of us went with her to where we adopted her, and were with her as she passed. My son said a short but heartfelt prayer as she did. Now she’s buried next to her predecessors Bailey and Skeena, in the back yard that she patrolled so faithfully and for so long; I spoke a few words of prayer as we buried her. See you in Heaven, true and faithful pup. Keep watch over the kids from there until they join you, and I hope you can play fetch with the guardian angles for entertainment while your spirit aids them on their appointed rounds.