Today was one of the most emotional days as an adult that I have experienced that I can remember. I have always had a canine friend in my life. Today my Roxy died unexpectedly of kidney failure. She was only 3 1/2 years old. We adopted her about 2 1/2 years ago. I miss her terribly.
My post the day her adoption was finalized:
I know on a spiritual level she is out of pain and now in doggie heaven. That being said, it does not negate the feeling of loss that I have right now. She has been my shadow and companion. She loved being with me everywhere I went, even in the car. I feel at a loss because it was so unexpected.
My history of Dalmatians goes back to 1973 when our family got our first one, Shu-hu (meaning lightning in Japanese). She was bred with my grandparents male dog (another dalmatian) , Laddie. We kept one of her puppies, and Myrtle became MY first canine best friend in 1975. Shu-hu died while I was in college after living to a nice old age. Steve and I met in 1989. At that time I was working in an animal hospital. A dalmatian came in and needed a home. Libby was then added to our new family. So we had Myrtle and Libby. Steve decided to get a dalmatian for me for Valentines, and Firedog was added to our growing pack. For a short while we had 3 dalmatians. Myrtle died at the old age of 17 years young.
In 1993 I drove across country from California to Massachusetts driving a moving van with 2 dogs (Libby & Firedog) and my friend Kacey in the cab of the truck. Both dogs loved moving to Boston and this was their first time seeing snow... In 1998 we found out that Libby had cancer, and she died from complications after living a long healthy life. So now Firedog was the sole dalmatian in our family, however we had added Stewart (human) in 1996 and Spencer (human) in 1998. In 2000 when we sold our house in Manomet, the fireman that came to inspect our smoke detectors noticed we had a dalmatian, and told us that at a prior house he was at they had a dalmatian that needed a home because the people were moving from a house to an apartment. I made a call to Steve, and we added Spain to our family.
We moved into our new home in North Plymouth in April 2000, and in June Firedog had a massive stroke and died right in front of us at home. It was very traumatic. Blessing come, as we now had Spain and he was the lone spoiled canine friend in our home.
In 2010 Spain passed away of old age. He led a full life, like all of his past predecessors.
At that point Steve and I made the commitment not to have any more dogs. My heart was broken and it needed time to heal. We decided that having a dog was too much, and that we would "like" the flexibility of being able to go away on week ends or on vacation and not have to put a dog in a kennel. Well, 10 months went by, and we never went away.
What did I do?
It was December 2010, and I went online to www.Petfinder and searched for Dalmatians. I found one at the Dedham Animal Rescue Center in Dedham ( near Boston). I called on a Saturday night. She had been listed there for 3 weeks, and I thought for sure she was already adopted, & that they had not updated the website. I spoke to a volunteer & they said she was available.
Spencer & I drove up to Dedham after church. We took her outside and walked her around for a bit and made an instant connection. Spencer and I sat on a boulder and chatted for quite a while. He was hooked. It was love at first sight. We could not put her back in the cage. We asked to take her home. They said we could have her for 72 hours to make the decision. We called the next day and made the necessary arrangements to keep her, as now she had become a member of our family. It was that quick. It was certainly meant to be and we were so thrilled with her. The name they had given her at the shelter was Jessie, but we decided to change it to Roxy.
Thats my chain of dalmatians:
Shu-hu
Myrtle
Libby
Firedog
Spain
Roxy
My heart aches because it is broken. This is my first experience with loosing a pet at a young age. All of the other losses were expected as my canine friends had long full lives.
This came out of the blue and has hit me like a ton of bricks.
I miss my Roxy.
