Dog News

Good Night Sweet Lady

by Katherine

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You never met this kind and gentle girl.
You never will.
She left us. She passed. Away, far away, during her sleep.
Her heart said “enough,” and ours tells us that folks – in tribute – should know the brief, bittersweet tale of Dionne.

141128-Dionne

This kid happened upon us.
She crossed Nikki’s path one morning, wandering along deserted streets, in a gruff, desolate area.
No tags. No sign that anybody might be looking…so we would start. That is what Scouts do.
This senior pup was shy, and worn, and had seen better days – or so we hope.
To the vet she went. She was street sick and needed on meds, and rest…and food, comfort and affection.
She became Dionne. She became a Mutt Scout. She became a part of us.

A handful of days at the vet, and no one yet stepped forward to claim this lost soul. She was medded and rested and appeared to be getting stronger, and then Dionne suddenly seemed off.
A strange, quick cough developed, and her heart was racing.
We had done blood-work, but now x-rays revealed her secret.
Dionne had a hugely enlarged heart.
Poor older girl was on the streets, without people, and seriously ill.

Dionne left the vet that day.
We packed her pills, her few belongings, and she went into foster.
Better to transition her onto her heart meds, in a home, surrounded with warmth and ease and life.

And so Dionne did home-like things for the next few days.
She hung out with others dogs, laid on too many different beds, ate big, prepared meals, napped in the sun with others, and then repeated all of the above. Dionne was Happy. She was relaxed.
And then, without saying goodbye, Dionne quietly died during her night’s sleep.

We had mapped a plan, you see. Doctor’s and treatments had started and we were walking this girl – hand in paw – toward her future. But that was our plan, our commitment. That is what we do.
But Dionne wanted something else:
The joy of being in a home with people that you open your eyes to see. They might not be who you once knew, but they looked at you with love and inclusion and praise. They did not judge you for being old, or dinged up, or not flashy. No, they actually thought it made you even More Beautiful, more special, and told you so, many times.
She wanted to be held, and not alone, and not on the streets, and not lost, and not scared. Dionne wanted to be Home. And for a very brief time, at the time she needed it most, Dionne WAS Home, and we were her Family.

Some relationships are brief. It does not make them less, in any sense. Sometimes the work you have to do here, only takes a short while.
We are beyond Grateful that Dionne chose us to be with, to complete her earthly stay.
She and her memory will be a part of what we do, and yet another potent reminder of how fragile life is, and how essential it is to be kindness-ready, in this big, rough world.

Now looking at Dionne’s x-ray, we have somehow convinced ourselves that the size of her heart – that part of the reason it was too full – was because Dionne finally got exactly what she wanted, needed and deserved.

Gentle Sleep, Beautiful Girl.
You Left Here, So Loved.


This was originally posted on Facebook by The Mutt Scouts. http://www.themuttscouts.org