My sweet Mika

Over Christmas break, we had to say goodbye to our dog Mika.  Mika was a part of our family for almost 15 years.  I knew it would be hard, but still I was not prepared for the huge void she left.  I still catch myself consciously stepping over her in the morning when I wake up.  She always slept right beside my bed.  It's a sad feeling to realize I don't have to look out for her anymore. 

In 1996 My husband and I adopted her from the humane society.  We were so excited to have spent only $30 for a really cute dog.  Three days after we took her home she became very sick and lethargic.  Like good new parents, we immediately took her to the vet.  I was at work when I received the call that she had Parvo, a life threatening illness.  As I hung up the phone I began to SOB!  I cancelled all of my clients for the rest of the day and drove to my husbands work to tell him the bad news.  With tears and snot running down my face I told my husband the bad news and how we needed to move forward with intravenous treatment for her.  "How much is the treatment," he asked?  "It doesn't matter how much!"  

"We're her parents," I exclaimed!  He pretty much knew right then that it would take longer for me to forgive him than it would take to pay off the credit card had he said no to treatment.  So $500 and four days later, Mika survived Parvo and was worth every penny.

I always said that she knew we saved her life, because of just how great a dog she turned out to be.  She wasn't a chewer, only had one accident in the house (unlike other dogs of ours... ahem), and she was always on watch for suspicious characters.  I don't think there will ever be another dog like her.  I bet she could have learned to sew had I taught her =)

Well I can't leave you all sad here, so I'll share a recent pic of Shoog the Boog.

She's grown... a lot!  Sometimes we don't know how big she is until we take her for a walk and people stop us to say, "Your dog is huge!"  I politely tell them she is sensitive about her weight and that she prefers the term "big boned" thank you very much.

Dogs!  They are the best =)

Jamie