Sleeping Dogs... [View all]

[Raven]

So, I have 2 Labradoodles. The puppy, Tinky, is 3 and the older dog, Shelta, is 14, Shelta is slowing down (like I am , getting gray and napping a lot but she still manages to keep up with the puppy and she has a great appetite.

My usual morning ritual is to let the dogs out, get my coffee and go read my newspapers on line. When both dogs come in, they always get a piece of cheese before their breakfast. Shelta always comes in first, finds me on the computer in my study, and lays down on the floor beside me until the puppy arrives.

This morning was no different. Tinky comes in from outside and I get up to go to the kitchen leaving Shelta asleep on the floor in the study. I get the cheese out and call out to Shelta. No answer. I call out again, no answer. That's unusual, I think. I go back into my study and Shelta is where I left her, still sleeping, or so I thought. I now yell at her. No response. I move closer and yell some more...no response and I can't discern any breathing. I poke one of her paws, no response, no nothing.

I stand there, just looking down at her. She's dead I say to myself. She must have passed in her sleep, on the floor next to me where she always goes in the morning, waiting for the puppy to come in so she can have her cheese. I also think, what a wonderful way for this wonderful dog to leave this world.

I back out of the study with tears in my eyes and a lump the size of the planet in my throat. What do I do now at this early hour. Who do I call...the Vet's not open yet.

I have to go back into the study because the phone is in there. I don't want to. I go in and very gingerly reach for the phone on my desk. There is a rustle and BAM, Shelta is up, bright eyed and wagging her tail.

I very quietly call her every name in the book and a few more that I made up on the spot and then she gets her cheese.

I'm back at my computer (obviously) and Shelta is back on the floor next to me...sleeping.

The lump in my throat won't go away.