Goodbye Old Friend

It was time to say goodbye to our old friend. She'd been with us for 15 1/2 years. Here's a brief synopsis of her life. From birth to around age 1 we don't know her history. We first met her when we lived in Sandy, Utah. Lynette and I had gone to the animal clinic with her sick hamster. While we were there we met a buff colored cocker spaniel. She was very skinny but friendly to us. We asked our vet about her and the vet told us that they had a program where they would take dogs that were due to be put down at the animal shelter but were considered adoptable. This practice made a lot of sense to me; after all-the people that go to animal hospitals like animals and that could increase their chances of being adopted.

The little dog (we think she was the runt of her litter) had already won my heart and Lynette's, but as we hadn't had a dog for a few years I wanted to make sure that Michael was okay with adding her to our family. Later that same day (after I learned how to give Vitamin K shots to a hamster) he came down and met the little spaniel. She won him over too. We paid the fees and brought her home. After considerable discussion it was decided to name her Claire Cherie Miller. Her adoption date was February 11 (don't ask me why I remember that) so we decided that we would have her birthday be February 14.

She didn't take a long time to settle down, but did have one bad habit: in her quest for food she would climb the highest mountain (or in our case) the kitchen table to get food. She enjoyed running in our backyard and would wipe out when she tried to corner too quickly. She wasn't a cuddler but did like being near you. We tried to feed her what she was supposed to eat (dry dog food) but sometimes couldn't help ourselves and gave her "people" food too. She loved watermelon!

Through the years she became a part of our family. In fact she's in nearly every Christmas picture and graduation picture. She almost died in 2003 while our son was on his mission in Brazil. Who knew that cocker spaniels were prone to an auto-immune disease. Great doctors, medication and two blood transfusions later she pulled through. Now, blood transfusions might seem excessive to some people, but they did give us nearly seven more years with her.

The past few years have been pretty rough for Claire. She lost most of her vision, her hearing and her sense of smell. She remained physically fit (we think it was the blood from they greyhound)and able to do her favorite things: sleep, eat, sleep and eat in that order. Last year she started exhibiting other behaviors that are considered symptoms of canine senility,but she hung in there, so to speak.

Last year, she nearly passed away the day of Melinda and Landan's wedding. She had some kind of seizure. We knew it was just a matter of time before she would leave us. We had hoped that she would die quietly in her sleep so we wouldn't have to make the decision to have her put down. That was not to be the case.

It was a hard decision, but it was the right decision. With the support of family and our vet, we made the appointment for July 20. We made preparations and I made the long drive to the hospital. There were some other incidents that precipitated the need, but to give Claire some dignity, we won't mention them.

The staff at the pet clinic was wonderfully supportive. She is no longer in pain and I believe that all good dogs do go to heaven.

Claire was a goood dog.

NS