When It's Time ...

Daisy

When our second puppy, Hemi, was claimed by the road we were desperate to find another dog to fill the void. Not replace her of course. No puppy could come close. But we didn't feel "right" with just Dodge.

We also knew we wanted to help a dog that needed a home. CJ was keen on the idea of a Great Dane and we found a rescue and rehoming site for these big beautiful dogs. And then we found Daisy.

Daisy was flown down to us from Darwin. I drove to Brisbane airport to greet her. She was such a timid, good natured girl and extremely obedient. We were told she was only two (we think she may have been a year or two older) but, being that Audrey was only one, we weren't necessarily wanting a puppy so we were very happy to be introducing her to our family.

I brought her home and she met Dodge and Audrey and CJ, our tiny family at that stage. She settled in beautifully and it was like she had always been here. She saw our tiny family of three grow to a slightly bigger family of four and then to a family of five - I still find it odd that Centrelink considers us a large family - and she has remained patient and loving with all of our babies as they have grown and explored what would, I guess, be her turf.

She was never an overly active dog but she loved to play with water from the hose and she loved a good scratch on the head - she would put her head in your lap and you had no choice but to give her some love - and just some good ole TLC.

She never escaped but always dobbed on Dodge when he was MIA and although she was the skinniest Great Dane we had ever known - we used to call her the Supermodel because she lived on fresh air - her bark was enough to stop the biggest of men walking through our front gate without a cautious phone call to us first, you know, just to check!

Everybody who met Daisy had a soft spot for her but would soon tire of having her face in theirs every time they were seated at an outdoor barbeque. She was affectionately known as our Pirate Dog due to only having one eye - a cat had scratched her other eye as a puppy yet, funnily enough, she grew to love our cats much to the previous owners' shock. She would often be seen lying in the sun with both the black and whites close by - and occasionally, because of this, she wouldn't see you if you came up by her blind side.

The more we knew of her the more we realised what a sweet natured girl she was, never once snapping or growling at the girls but more often than not whimpering if we roused on her and skulking back to her bed.

But as is always the case with time, she aged and she became skinnier than we could have ever imagined leading to hip issues which were extremely apparent at my birthday barbeque just the other week.

The vet came by today.

She discussed Daisy's health and agreed we could do a number of things to prolong her life but also stated "For who?" She would not have had any more quality of life than she does. She was showing signs of bone degeneration as evidenced by her falling off her back legs from time to time.

The vet was lovely. As far as these occasions are concerned, we couldn't have asked for a more supportive, informative and wonderful vet.

And although we thought we knew, it was nice for a professional to assure us we were making the right decision especially for our Daisy.

Schmooey and I retreated to the bedroom and AJ and Daddy stayed by Daisy's side through the process returning all of the unconditional loyalty and love that Daisy has shown us through the years. AJ is such a brave, brave little girl with an enormous heart and it is times like this that it is ever more apparent.

And so, it was time and Daisy is laying peacefully on her bed waiting for her resting place to be prepared.

RIP Miss Daisy.