In Memory of Maggie

In memory of Maggie, who left us on Saturday November 18th, 2006.

I keep trying to remember that the kindest thing you can do is let your pet go quietly and quickly without all the pain and suffering that people experience when they are sick and no cure is available. (from Ann F.)

It is hard to not feel guilty about making the decision to end your pet's life. She would have been in continuous pain that was not alleviated by medication, had we not decided to 'let her go'. I just have to keep telling myself that she is no longer in pain, and is much happier wherever she is.

I miss her so much. When I wake up in the mornings, I still expect her to be right by my bedside, poking her cold wet nose in my face. When we come home at night, I still expect her to be there right at the door as we come in, and not even let us put our things down before she asks for attention.


There are so many times when I think back to the fun we had. When we went to the park down the street from the condo and played off-leash even though we weren't supposed to. The times we went to the dog park and she ignored the other dogs because she was so focused on us throwing the ball to her. The little squeaking noises she made when we were in the car getting close to a place she really liked.










She liked to be wherever we were. That included when we were just hanging out on the deck enjoying some homemade guacamole. She would bring her devil ball (in her mouth at picture on left) and lay down on the deck with us. More than once she put her devil ball down on the deck and it rolled off down into the bushes 4 stories below. Of course, more than once we trekked down to the bushes full of spiders and other creepy-crawlies and fished her devil ball out. It was her favorite.












She loved to walk. She indulged me many a sunday morning when I wanted to explore the new neighborhood or go down to Fremont. She and I would walk for an hour or more, and she still wanted to go longer! That is one of the big things I will miss about her. I loved to go for long walks with her. She gave me a reason to go out and I might not have done it otherwise.







She was always so happy. As my Aunt Ann says: "I have always thought of our pets as “little angels” put here to be our companions, protectors and friends. Dogs know when you’re happy, sad or lonely. They love you unconditionally and all you need to provide is love, food, exercise and basic medical care. "









How could you not love a dog that looked at you with such big brown eyes, and would wiggle her eyebrows so you knew she was trying to figure something out, or keep her eye on you?

















With Thanksgiving coming up, I want to express how thankful I am that we got to spend the time that we did with Maggie. She certainly enriched our lives in ways we never thought possible. I know her life before us wasn't 'bad', but I like to think that she had a better life with us than with her previous owners. We played and exercised together, and fed her good healthy food, and did what we could to make her life more enjoyable.





She is so pretty. The gray on her face just makes her all the more unique and interesting. She had a wonderfully soft coat that was enjoyable to pet. And she was fairly good about letting us bathe her so she would have a nice clean soft coat. The baths also helped her itch less. Boy- we really did everything to combat all her itchiness. I don't think we ever knew for sure what made her itch more at certain times than others. But we did what we could to make her feel better.












David and I spent all our time with her on friday and saturday before we took her to the vet. I would just sit where David is in this picture and pet her. She loved to be touched, and I like to think that having all that attention helped her to relax and feel a little better.








Here we are playing in the park down on Lake Union. She wouldn't let her eye off the ball, so it was hard to trick her into running when we didn't actually throw it. She really loved that park. When we went there on hot days and played, she would go fetch the ball, and take it to a shady spot to lay down and rest for awhile.







She was so tired toward the end. She wouldn't get up to eat, drink or go to the bathroom. Even her favorite toys didn't always get her attention. I took lots of pictures and short videos of her the last two days. But most of the memories I have of her are during her happier, healthier days.









We were buddies, and she was family to me and David. I've never felt this way about an animal before. Sure, I had pets as a kid, but I didn't bond with them the way I bonded with Maggie. I worried about her, and I thought of her before I thought of myself.
















If we gave her both fetch toys at once, she would hoard them unless we could wrestle one of them away. These two toys, the pink football, and the red ball were her two favorite toys to play fetch with. Sometimes she would carry the toy all the way back to the condo in her mouth. It was a good thing they had big holes in them so she could breathe!













If we were working on the computer, she would sometimes come and push her nose up under our arm so we couldn't type. She always wanted love and attention, and she had so much love to give us.















So here's to Maggie, our first family member, our first dog, and a wonderful teacher of unconditional love.