I was 11 when Spot came into our lives. My passion for horses caused me to come into contact with many foxhounds, and I absolutely loved them. I remember begging my parents over and over again for a foxhound, but to no avail. Finally, I convinced them to take me to our local animal shelter “just to see”. I highly doubt that they were expecting to find a dog that day, but sure enough there was my foxhound waiting for me. I truly believe that we were supposed to meet that day, and that we were meant for each other.
Spot was 4,5, or 6 years old when we adopted him, and added him to our little group of 2 shih tzus and a golden retriever. We were never exactly certain of his age. He had been abused, so we had a lot of trust to win, but once it was won it was never lost. Spot was very protective of our family, especially my mom and I. Every time voices were raised, whether in anger, humor, or cheering for our favorite sports teams, Spot would quickly jump in with a loud bark, reprimanding us for causing the slightest disruption. Even when the other dogs played too rough for Spot, he would jump and make sure order was maintained. I am positive he would have made an excellent general if he was human. He also “yelled” at us if we were away from home for any length of time, “How could you leave me for so long?” even if we were only gone 10 minutes.
Over the years, our two shih tzus have gone on to the rainbow bridge, and we have added a jack russell and a beagle. Spot was definitely the father figure of our little group, especially for the jack russell. They slept together, hunted together, and just simply had fun together. His loss has been hard on our little Darby, but it really helps having his other friends around to ease the pain. We just adopted our beagle this past Easter, so he did not have too much time to get to know Spot, sadly enough.
Spot’s death was extremely sudden. The vet was just telling us this past spring how great he looked for his age. He had lyme’s disease that slowed him down a bit, but other than that he was a very healthy senior citizen. A few days ago, he just collapsed on our kitchen floor and was completely unresponsive. We rushed him to the vet where they found an inoperable tumor on his aorta. We decided to wait and see how he would respond to treatment. He just got worse. We decided that the best thing for him would be to send him on to the rainbow bridge to release him from his prison of a body.
We will all miss him forever. That I know for sure. Although Spot was not in our lives from the time that he was a puppy, the nine years we did have with him were made even more special by his beautiful spirit. I can’t wait until we meet again and will be able to spend eternity together, but for now I know that he is free and happy and I am extremely lucky to have known and loved him.
Love always,
| Spot |
| The Kelley Family |