Peace

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Jake and Brita were searching for not just a mouse.

Their stockings were hung by the fridge with care,

In hopes that mom Laurel would willingly share.

 

In just a short time they were snug in their beds,

While visions of chipmunks danced in their heads.

It wasn't just chipmunks they dreamed of that night,

But also the rabbits who they made take flight.

 

In a short time there arose such a clatter

They jumped from the couch to see what was the matter.

And there to their wondering eyes did appear

The spirits of others that used to live here.

 

First, there was Josie who made the most noise,

Chasing the others, especially the boys.

But Ari and Teddy would not let her run

Because they decided she'd stifle their fun.

 

Tori was circling to see what to do

When Kobie and Liver quickly ran through.

Then they ALL came together to join in a song

While Brita and Jake, wide eyed, looked on.

 

The message they brought on that night of a birth

Was of PEACE and GOOD WILL to all on the earth.

This message was clear to those who would listen,

As clear as the snow which often would glisten.

 

And then, in the distance, was the sound of a whistle

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But they were heard to exclaim as they flew out of sight,

"Peace to all of God's creatures, and to all a good-night!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE:  I woke up with this running through my head this morning
and in 30 minutes had it done.  Truly I believe I had unseen help!

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Happy 4th of July!!

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Click here to visit Josephine's memorial.
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Bath Time ....

So I gave Olivia a bath today and thought back over the years…. when I had:

• one dog - Josephine - there were monthly trips to the groomer.
• two dogs - Josephine and Ari - trips to groomer were every 2 months.
• three dogs - Josephine, Ari and Teddy - I bought a grooming table and hand hose to attach to  shower head.
• four dogs - Josephine, Ari, Teddy and Olivia - I bought a super duper 4 hp blower for $300 and it was the best investment I could make to groom the dogs.
• five dogs - Josephine, Ari Teddy, Olivia and Kobie - I bought double arms for the grooming table.
• five dogs - Ari, Teddy, Olivia, Kobie and Tori - I started if possible, only blowing dogs coats outside (4 long coats).
• five dogs - Ari, Teddy, Olivia, Kobie and Brita - I thought to myself - don't short coated dogs blow less coat?
• four dogs - Olivia, Kobie, Brita and Jake - I decided baths were only given outside when the weather is warm with a hose.
• three dogs (now) - Olivia, Brita and Jake - I decided that Olivia gets the warm tub bath and the others really have no idea what a bath even is... hose yes... bath no...

If the dogs could talk I'm sure this is what they would have said about grooming:

• Josephine - "I'm going to be beautiful, right? Could I have the PINK scarf around my neck?"
• Ari - "yeah, whatever - hurry it up… and don’t even TRY to cut my nails."
• Teddy - "If this is what you want me to do, I'll do it for YOU - but you can't make me like it."
• Olivia - "I’m going to die here, I just know it."
• Kobie - "Put me in that tub again and you'll be REALLY sorry! I don't care if you string me up on 2 sides of the grooming table, I'll still be able to swing around so you can't blow ME dry!"
• Tori - "I looovvvve the attention - take note you other guys... she likes ME best!"
• Brita - "Oh come on - do I really have to???   I'm here to work, not be a beauty queen"
• Jake - "OMG, OMG, OMG - this is SO much fun... spray me more with the hose and I'll catch the water!"
  

Jake's preferred way to bathe.....

 

 

 

 

 

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Titles Anyone?

So here it is…  the good, the bad and the ugly!  Titles and certificates that my dogs achieved from 2003 to 2009.  50 I in all when counting Therapy Dogs.

The beginning….  Josephine, the German Shepherd who made me a dog trainer was a great Therapy Dog but never got a title.  NOT THAT I DIDN’T TRY!  I believe I won the award for the most failures on one dog while trying to get her Schutzhund BH.  She always found a new and exciting (to her) way to humble me whether it was running off the field to greet the spectators or simply playing catch me if you can.  In hindsight, HAD she been an easy dog to train I most likely would not be a dog trainer today.  She did pass the Canine Good Citizen Test but certainly not on the first attempt!

The first title I put on a dog was a BH in Schutzhund and it was Olivia who started it in 2003.  Ari soon followed after, as did Teddy and then Kobie with BHs.  This was the generation of dogs who taught me lesson after lesson. They all were Therapy Dogs and received their Canine Good Citizen certificate.  Ari was a bit of a butthead (mostly decoys called him that) and we repeated the BH and achieved a Tracking 1 title in Schutzhund. 

While I was struggling with Ari, I took my 3 Amigos (as I called Teddy, Kobie and Olivia) on the road.  They each got a AKC Companion Dog title and Olivia went on to get an AKC Companion Dog Excellent title. They also got a UKC Companion Dog title and again Olivia went on to get a UKC Companion Dog Excellent title.  At the same time they each got an AKC Rally Novice title.  These 11 titles each required 3 legs (that’s a total of 21!) and we did them in a four month period in 2004.  In addition, Olivia and Kobie each received a Herding Instinct Certificate.  Teddy turned out to be a sheep chaser and I never gave Ari a chance to meet the wooly whites.

In 2005, I was introduced to a sport called PSA and it was perfect for Ari.  It was a tad wild and crazy and a boatload of fun!  However, like Josephine before him, Ari found yet new and different ways to humble me.  Two trials in Appleton for a PDC…  failed.  A trial in Baltimore for a PDC – failed.  Two trials in Baltimore handled by Greg Williams and he almost got his PSA 1 title…  ok..  so he CAN do it… now he has to do it for me!  Two trials in Northeast PA – failed. All this in the summer of 2005.  Two trials in upstate New York for a PDC – first day – failed…  second day.. passed – woohoo!  For the NY trials I took Olivia along with us and entered her both days for a TC which is the obedience part of the PSA 1 title and each day she was the high score of all the dogs that were entered (60 over 2 days)!  By the way, this was in the days when at a PSA trial maybe 15% of the entries actually passed.

Over the winter of 2005-06, Ari and I trained and trained and in June of 2006, we traveled to Baltimore to compete.  Finally, not only did we achieved the PSA 1 title but also took FIRST place!  For the rest of the summer, we “played” in Level 2, passing the obedience portion but never achieving the title because Ari never really “got” the “call-off” scenario!  Late in 2006, Ari competed in his first AKC trial getting his Rally Novice title with excellent scores and he also passed 2 legs of a CD.

In February of 2007, Ari was diagnosed with Addison’s Disease almost losing his life before AD was diagnosed.  After a few months of recovery it became apparent that he couldn’t compete so we did one last trial in Bourbonnais, IL in PSA Level 2 on 07-07-07 which was a fitting day to retire.

Tori was another dog I had at the time and she simply did NOT like obedience but she was an excellent Therapy Dog and passed the CGC test with ease.  Then in 2006, I placed her as a Psychiatric Service Dog – not bad for a dog adopted from a rescue at one year old who thought she was a princess!

2007. Enter Brita.  Before she was a year old she had not only a HIC but also an Herding Tested title.  In a few months time she achieved her Rally Novice, Rally Advanced and then Rally Excellent titles and passed the CGC test and became a Therapy Dog.   Next was a BH, an AD which is an endurance test, then a Schutzhund TR1 and a Tracking 1 from Service Dogs of America (SDA).  She also achieved the Watch Dog (WH) and Rescue Suitability (RH) titles in Schutzhund and then in 2010 rounded it out with a PSA-TC in Illinois after an unsuccessful attempt at a PSA-PDC in St. Louis.  

And then there is Jake…. who squeaked by the Canine Good Citizen test to get the certificate and now is probably doing something way more important than any title and that is becoming a Service Dog. 

So there you have it.  Will I continue to train and trial Brita and Jake?  Train – yes…  trial…  we’ll see… It may be a situation of “been there, done that” and I’ll go on to other things… as I said, we’ll see..  Whatever happens…  it HAS been a good ride!

Josephine (1991-2003) CGC, Therapy Dog Extraordinaire
Ari (1999-2009) CGC, Therapy Dog, BH, TR1, PSA-TC, PSA-PDC, PSA1, RN
Olivia (1999-  ) CGC, Therapy Dog, BH, CD, CDX, UCD, UCDX, HIC, RN, PSA-TC
Teddy (1999-2009) CGC, Therapy Dog, BH, CD, UCD, RN
Kobie (2001-2011) CGC, Therapy Dog, BH, CD, UCD, HIC, RN
Tori (2003-?) CGC, Therapy Dog, Psychiatric Service Dog 2006-2008
Brita (2006-2019) CGC, Therapy Dog, HIC, HT, RN, RA, RE, BH, AD, T1, TR1, WH, RH, PSA-TC
Jake (2008-  ) CGC, Service Dog in Training

What do eggs, tomatoes and a trash can have in common?

 

  

Let me first say that the tomatoes and eggs are at the edge of my kitchen counter and the trash can is in full view in the kitchen.  It’s the first time in TWENTY years that I haven’t worried about a dog “counter-surfing” or digging through the trash! 

Yes, I’ll admit… it was a training issue with Josephine…. but then 20 years ago, I knew nothing about actually training dogs so over the years she trained me.  Everything that smells like, looks like or tastes like food – out of reach!  I was very much in the habit of putting things in or on top of the refrigerator.  But I’m not perfect, you see, and I remember her eating a box of raisin bran (eeewww – stinky), a bag of bagels (bloated), half a container of Nestles Quik (hyper), uncooked rice (bloated again…. I could go on… And trash cans… under the sink with a lock…

Josephine and Kobie overlapped by about 6 months and I was now in a rhythm of putting things away.  Sometime after I lost Josephine I realized she had a protégée – Kobie - who took great satisfaction in scoffing up what she could and running out the dog door into the yard or woods to dine on her catch.  White “to-go” boxes were her favorite I think because she never knew what was going to be in them…. and, actually, it was quite beautiful to see a black dog running across the yard with a full mouth bite around a white “to-go” box!     I tried to explain to her that they were for me “to-go” home not for her “to-go” out!   Kobie’s pancreatic insufficiency didn’t help the matter any and I reasoned that her drive to eat would override any training so I chose to continue to do what I had done for so many years.  Things I do recall:

• coming in the house to find the pot of brats that I was boiling for treats all gone and 2 girls (Brita and Kobie) licking the floor.
• making spaghetti for a friend who was stopping by, going to greet him and then realizing that Kobie was alone in the house with the spaghetti (in a covered dish on the counter)…. yup… no spaghetti!
• remembering I got eggs out to hard boil hours later because the entire 12-18 eggs and the container were gone and for me it was a case of out-of-sight  …  out-of-mind.   (no she didn’t eat the container but it was somewhere in the yard.

So… now I have a trash can… it’s open sometimes and not a problem… I am amazed!  I leave things on the counter… and they don’t disappear… oh my gosh…  I hardly remember those days!  …but for sure…. I miss you Josephine and Kobie….

Anxiety Wrap…

…passed down from generation to generation….  huh?   what’s that??  Let me first say…  I don’t sell Anxiety Wraps – although maybe I should.  Here’s the website:  https://anxietywrap.com/default.aspx   and here’s what it says….

A Therapeutic Hug …..The Anxiety Wrap uses Maintained Pressure and Acupressure to relieve stress and end/lessen fears and anxieties in dogs. Created in 2001, it was the first of its kind on the market and invented the category of Pressure Wraps.  The Anxiety Wrap mainly alleviates/lessens five major conditions:

• Fear
• Anxiety
• Hyperactivity
• Insecurity
• Shyness

These conditions are the root of many unwanted behaviors in dogs. And because The Anxiety Wrap can alleviate/lessen the basic, core condition, there are many unwanted behaviors that can end or lessen such as:

Thunderstorm fear …. Leash pulling …. Separation anxiety …. Fear of other dogs …. Constant barking …. Fear of people …. Unwanted jumping …. Travel anxiety …. Other noise phobias …. Fireworks fear …. Whining …. Hyperactivity …. Nervousness …. Car sickness …. Destructive chewing

So anyway..  you can read about it…  First I bought it for Josephine for thunderstorm phobia..  sort of helped…  I have no photos online because that was BD (before digital). 

Next was Teddy.  He had hip surgery and wouldn’t wear a cone.  Well actually he would but then wouldn’t move a muscle.  If he was sitting when I put the cone on him, 2 hours later he was sitting in the same place.  Hmm …  the anxiety wrap… would cover most of his hip but not all so we had to add some scarves…  pretty snazzy, huh?

And then there was Ari…  I really can’t remember why he has both the Anxiety Wrap and a cone on in this picture but it sure was a photo opportunity.  He did not care what he had on… it was all about fun!

So now…  Jake has been scratching himself…  is it a habit, anxiety, who knows…  Last night I hunted down the tried and true Anxiety Wrap and it just immediately had an affect on him and there was no more scratching…  He slept in it and I don’t think he moved off of the bed at all and when he did I pulled it off of him and he seemed oh… so glad.  So far, the scratching has not returned but the second it does… on comes the wrap… and then I’ll get a photo of him also!! 

PS..  I would like to add that the first few times I put it on him he ran to my bedroom and buried his head under my pillow.  He obviously didn’t like it and if ever I saw a dog exhibit embarrassment, this was it. He was down right humiliated having to wear something like that!  I discovered that the trick is to put it on him while he is waiting to be fed…  Isn’t it amazing how food comforts even dogs! 

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Yep! GSDs get it all!

• Addison's Disease (Ari)
• Allergies (Olivia)
• Anaplasmosis (Ari)
• Arthritis (Olivia)
• Degenerative Myelopathy (Tori)
• Dementia (Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome)
• Dental - Canine in Palate (Brita)
• Ear Infection (Kobie)
• Femoral Head Ostectomy (Teddy, Jake)
• Hearing Loss (Olivia)
• Hip Dysplasia (Teddy, Josephine)
• Hot Spots (Olivia, Ari, Tori)
• Kidney Failure (Josephine)
• Lumbosacral Stenosis (Ari)
• Lymes (Jake)
• Pancreatic Insufficiency (Kobie)
• Pannus (Josephine, Olivia)
• Pelvic Bone Broken (ischium)(Jake)
• Seizures (Ari)
• Triple Pelvic Osteotomy (TPO)(Josephine)
• Tumor (Brain Tumor) (Ari)
• Tumors – Mast Cell (Olivia)
• Urinary Tract Infection (Tori)
• Vision Loss (Olivia)

 

 

  

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Josephine (1991-2003) Hip dysplasia – surgery (TPO) – Pannus - Thunderstorm phobia – Melatonin – Anxiety Wrap - Arthritis - Adequan series of shots - Lumps removed - Broken tooth – root canal - Kidneys failed

Ari  (1999 – 2009)  Addison's Disease - Anaplasmosis (tick disease) - Spondylosis - VOM treatment - Seizures – Brain tumor - Lumps removed

Teddy  (1999 – 2009) Hip dysplasia – surgery (FHO) Adequan series of shots - VOM treatment - Separation Anxiety -Tumor (most likely cancer) causing non-use of front leg

Olivia (1999 – present) Arthritis – Adequan series of shots - VOM treatment - Pannus – almost blind - Hearing impaired 90% - Nervous biting creating hotspots - Lumps removed

Kobie (2001 – 2011)  Pancreatic Insufficiency - Probable dementia - Probable bone loss like osteoporosis - Freak accident hitting wall (fatal)

Tori  (2003 – 2009)  Degenerative Myelopathy - VOM treatment -Infections – uterus

Brita  (2006 – present) Dental surgery at 9 months to reconstruct her palate because her lower canine created a hole in the roof of her mouth -

Jake  (2009 – present) Broken pelvic bone as a very young puppy that caused his hip to be pushed out of the socket – surgery (FHO) – VOM treatment - Small Hernia -Lyme's Disease

 

 

 

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Therapy Dogs

(update 2013 – I’m back at it with Winnie, my neighbors Bernese Mountain Dog!  )

It was with sadness today that I made the decision to not renew my membership with Therapy Dogs, Inc.. an organization that I have been associated with since 1992. 

It all started with Josephine (1991-2003). She was the dog who made me a dog trainer - a character off leash (ok – she would run away from me) but on leash in a hospital or nursing home setting she was amazing.  We were one of the original teams at Theda Clark Regional Medical Center in Neenah in 1992 and she continued to be a part of that program until 2003.  During her life we visited an assisted living home weekly in Winneconne where she brought many smiles to the residents.  In the mid 90’s after an evacuation of a small town in the area for three weeks, it became apparent to me that a therapy dog in a Red Cross shelter would be very beneficial to people who were displaced from their homes for a period of time.  I approached the local Red Cross and worked in conjunction with them to start a program that was utilized in several local evacuations.   We were highlighted on the cover of the Therapy Dogs, Inc. magazine with the photo that’s here and as a result I received several call from handlers in different cities across the country asking for advice on how to implement such a program.  Another thing we did which Josephine really liked was to give talks to community groups about therapy dogs.  She would jump onto a table if one was available and like a princess watch the group and her ears would perk up every time I would say words like “visit” and “hospital”.   Josephine’s number with Therapy Dogs was #25 and I believe when she was approved, the numbers were in order and as you’ll read, that number was handed down for two generations of dogs.

When Josephine was 8 years old, Ari (1999-2009) came into our lives and at a year old, he was evaluated and approved as a therapy dog.  I remember how he would roll over on the floor in the hospital halls to let small children rub his belly.  It became apparent that his strong point was not therapy dog work but rather he was headed towards competition.  Note here how he is watching carefully a dog training video!  Because I still had Josephine, I decided to not use Ari as a therapy dog and focus on his training.

In 2001, Teddy (1999-2009)  came into our lives.  He was the same age as Ari and was 14 months old at the time.  Teddy had issues with separation anxiety and fear of loud noises outside such as machinery but he became my best therapy dog yet. He became my class companion and when teaching, he would be in the room with me and the students.  For a few years I was an evaluator of new therapy dog teams for Therapy Dog, Inc. and also a Canine Good Citizen evaluator and Teddy was my “neutral” dog who was not flustered or aggressive when another dog was around.  I trusted him 100% – he was the best!  I had to retire him in 2008 because he started having problems getting around and it was obvious that his career was over. 

Later in 2001, Olivia arrived from a German Shepherd rescue.  Her father was Teddy’s grandfather and knowing and loving Teddy’s personality the way I did, when I heard about Olivia, there was no decision as to whether or not she would come to live with us.  Olivia was evaluated and registered as a therapy dog in 2003 and took over Josephine’s #25.  However, Olivia’s personality was not even close to Teddy’s.  While she was sweet as sweet could be, she was hyper and nervous and her calling was with Ari and obedience competition where she channeled that nervousness into a high stepping beautiful picture.  She is 11.5 years old now.

Kobie was next to join us in 2003 at slightly over a year old.  She was also registered as a therapy dog and would go to the hospital on visits.  Kobie was soon diagnosed with pancreatic insufficiency and I choose to not  risk “accidents” on visits so her visitations were limited and eventually stopped altogether. Kobie’s mission I believe in her mind was to help around the house cleaning up any food that I may have dropped or she may have found.  Note the cleaning of the stove in the photo.  I’ve called Kobie my angel, the peacemaker around the house. She was the one who my mother in a nursing home was most anxious to see because she was a black dog and that color was her favorite.  She is 9 years old now.

And then there was Tori… sometimes mistaken for Josephine by people who didn’t know I lost her.  In late December 2003, she came to live with us from another German Shepherd rescue and, even though she was only a year old, she qualified to be registered within a few months.  She was nothing short of amazing with people. I remember how she would walk into a room and go from one person to the next and look at them as if to say, I’m here to help.  Little did I know then that two years later she would be a Psychiatric Service Dog for a woman who suffered from PTSD.  Her time with me, I truly believe, was to prepare her for her real purpose of helping someone who was not able to help themselves. 

Enter Brita at 14 weeks old – 2007.  I gave her to Teddy to raise and teach her dog ways and he did a fine job. Shortly after she was a year old she was registered as a therapy dog and took over Olivia’s number, #25 which she kept until recently when computers created new numbers for each dog each year.  At this time, Teddy retired and Brita was “it”, the only one left - young pup in a pack of aging seniors, she was the next generation.  But Brita was a workin’ dog, a German shepherd from West German lines and she wanted to WORK!  Visits became fewer and fewer as Brita collected titles… Rally Excellent, Herding Test (HT), Schutzhund BH, AD, RH and WH, TR1, SDA T1….all before she was 2 years old.

So today, Dec. 30th with one day to spare, I made the decision to put that work behind and continue forward to other things.  Brita’s brother, Jake, is here now and at one year old would make a wonderful therapy dog and, who knows, maybe someday we will do that.  For now and in the future.. it’s other work… it’s training, it’s competition…

I’d like close by sharing a story of one of Josephine’s visits to the group home.  As usual, we were making the rounds in the living area and, as usual, came to Esther who was sitting hunched over in her chair.  Each visit I would take her hand and pet Josephine with it and each time there was no response. Then one day, she turned her hanging head to the side and said, clear as a bell, “What’s her name”?  “Josephine”, I replied, “can you say that”?  She replied, again as clear as a bell, “Josephine”.   Then she added: “She LIKES me”.  The staff couldn’t believe what they were hearing because some of them had never heard her speak.  We don’t know what people in that situation hear and comprehend but that day gave me a glimpse into what a difference a therapy dog visit can make to a woman who no one thought knew what was happening.  That’s why I was a part of the world of therapy dogs.

Please visit Therapy Dogs, Inc. for more information.

   

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Merry Christmas

…..from over the years…  First Josephine and Ari, then Olivia and Ari.  In the group we’ve added Tori and Teddy and Kobie is by herself.  The first reindeer is Olivia at 10.5 years old and the others are Brita.  Guess I better get my camera….  Jake is missing!!

                    

Click here for more “snow dogs” photos of Ari and Brita from December 24, 2008.

 

 

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There’s a squirrel in my basement!!

OH….MY….GOD…… 

I was taking a load of laundry downstairs before bed and got halfway down and saw it!  Flat on it’s back… dead as dead can be!  Little arms and legs out to the side…  I immediately turned around and came back upstairs.

“OK you guys,”  I said to the dogs..  “whoever brought this squirrel in is going to take it back out.” I shoved Brita and Jake (it was one of them and my money would be on Jake) to the landing at the top of the stairs and shut the door so they could go nowhere but downstairs.  I have another stairway through an unfinished part of the lower level that goes up to the garage and there is a dog door for them to go out to the fenced yard.

Yes, they are spoiled – 3 acres fenced in various sections and maybe an acre of woods in parts of it.  Certainly lots of trees for squirrels but I rarely see any.  Most are smart enough to stay away.  Not many rabbits either.  Someone posed the question – do they eat them or just take them out and bury them.  Well the answer is – it depends.  It depends on what dog it is.  Josephine would catch rabbits and eat them right in front of me or anyone else.  I remember she did that one time when I had her along at work.  She caught it and ran back to her crate to enjoy her catch.  Ari just watched.  He was a puppy then.  Then one time when Ari was a few years old he, with pride, brought me a rabbit freshly caught and not a mark on it and dropped it at my feet.  Before either of us knew what happened, Josephine swooped by, grabbing it as she went and enjoyed the treat without sharing.  And then there is Kobie who will catch, kill and eat any critter that is unfortunate enough to come through the fence.  I call her my hunter.  I’ve always said she could live in the wild but now with her pancreatic insufficiency there would be no one to put enzymes on her catches. Teddy didn’t seem to be interested in any part of critters outside and Olivia…  well do princesses really catch and eat their own food?  I think not.  So now it’s Brita and Jake who love to bury things (see previous post) so my guess is that would bury it.

So back to the current situation…  no go..  they were ignoring it as if it wasn’t there..  I decided to go into avoidance and just go to bed and hope it magically would be gone in the morning.  It wasn’t.  So, I called on the dog that was a sure thing…  Kobie.  As she trotted down the stairs she did a double take when she almost passed by “it”. Then she turned, grabbed it and ran outside.  I never saw the squirrel again and prefer to believe that she buried it….  however…  I’ve never seen Kobie bury anything!

Another friend asked if I took a picture… duh..  never gave it a thought.  I guess I’ll just have to put a picture of Kobie here.  I should have called this post “Kobie to the rescue!”

     

How many balls were there?!?

I guess I never really knew how many balls Ari had - I just knew that he always had one nearby.  I believe that he would pick up a ball instead of barking because he knew he wasn’t supposed to do that but it was obvious that they were his favorite toys!
So, this spring, in addition to Brita’s hidden toys what started appearing were all these balls…  all shapes and sizes… so I started collecting them and put them in a pile.    
And one day Kobie and Olivia were in the yard hanging out by them so I thought…  hmm..  a photo opportunity!  What surprised me when I looked at them was that Josephine got in the picture with the sign that is over her resting place.
  

The ball we left on Ari’s resting place.

Josephine and My Mother

There were buddies from the start.

In 1991, my mother had just moved to Wisconsin and a few months later Josephine came charging into our lives. Over the next 11 years I got an assortment of dogs and each time Mother would say... "What about poor Josephine?" And Josephine would look at her and then at me as if to say "See.. she loves me".....

Eleven years later, after recovering from a hip replacement, Mother who was now 91 years old, started going downhill and the time had come for her to go to a home to live.  Daughter Candace, whom she was especially close to, called me one day and said that she would like her grandmother to come back to Pennsylvania to live out her days in a home where she used to volunteer.  So in September of 2002, she did just that and never saw Josephine again.  I took other dogs on a trip there to see her but Josephine was left behind.

In the spring of 2003 Mother was going downhill and so was Josephine.  On June 28th I took Josephine to the vet because she was horribly thin and now wasn't eating.  The diagnosis... kidneys were shutting down and the vet suggested that I take her home and enjoy her but most likely her time will come very soon.

On the way home from the vet that day I called Mother who mentally was sound even through her body was slowly shutting down and told her about Josephine.  The next day I spoke with her in the morning and she wasn't coherent so I called Candace to find out what was going on.  The doctor was called and the diagnosis... her kidneys were shutting down.

During the next 5 days Mother was in and out of consciousness and often talking with her mother.  Josephine made the rounds and only ate what was not good for her.  It became apparent that she was still losing weight and the appointment was made for the vet to come to the house on July 3rd.  People kept showing up.... Darcy, Janeen, Marissa, Tim, Kate..  Kate's kids had made a box for her and painted the outside and Darcy helped me pick a tree to be planted near her resting place.  She crossed peacefully and was laid to rest in the yard.  Soon after that daisies were delivered from Candace and Sharon.

The next day Candace went to visit her grandmother and told her Josephine was waiting for her.  Not 12 hours later, she also crossed.  
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Did they go together?  Did they plan it?  I always thought so.  When I had a conversation with Marilyn for the first time I asked if we could contact her and here are the results.

Marilyn said is she long in body… not stocky and square… Yes.    She was your first dog or changed your life. She’s rolling on back to rub her body…. She’s saying “tell her I’m on my back”.
(All true. She liked me to scratch her belly and at first I didn’t realize that but not long after a photo came on my screen saver where she was on her back and I was scratching her belly)

**********So……Are you with Grandma?    Yes…. They walked together… one went first, paved the way and waited so they could go together…..
(I explained that they crossed within a few days of each other and that Josephine went first. Marilyn just didn’t think that was the way it happened.  I explained that Mother was in and out of consciousness for about 4 days before Josephine crossed and that she was talking with HER mother. Marilyn immediately said something to the effect that she didn’t go then because SHE was waiting for Josephine)

She WAS personality plus.    …..if she could cause trouble SHE WOULD!   …..she had a mission though…
(Well, we all knew that was true, don’t we?? ...the trouble thing! She was always trying to see what trouble she could get into (fun for her) up until days before she left me when I left her in the front seat of the van to go back in the house to get something and I come back out to see her trotting up the road) She was however an awesome therapy dog and made a difference in peoples lives for probably 10 years.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to go to Josephine's Memorial Page.

There is a post script to this story…

July 5th is Candace’s birthday.  She felt it was an honor that her grandma crossed on this day.  The two of them had many of the same interests  - their love of music and passion to paint or draw.  Candace prayed for a sign that everything was OK and the way it should be.

That night for her birthday her family went to visit another family.  During the visit, the host’s son played an unfamiliar piano piece.  Unfamiliar to me that is and most people but not to Candace and her grandmother for it was their favorite song.

This was the sign that she prayed for and she knew it.  She also knew that everything was as it should be.