Abby was the smallest little bundle of love we had ever seen. She came to live with us when she was about 7 weeks old. She came to us right from her Mother’s side wrapped in a hand towel, smelling of Mother’s milk and barn straw.
She started out sleeping with our young daughter, draped across her neck, if on her stomach or her throat if on her back, always wanting to be snuggled up close to a warm place. All of her days, until she died,
Abby preferred being wrapped up in a baby receiving blanket. She was our baby. We cared for her in the manner you would a human child.
Soon she was sleeping with my husband and I. It’s funny because he said he didn’t want a house dog and if a dog came into this house, he was going out. Not only did he not go out, he wound up sleeping with her and loved her intensely.
She was high strung but oh, such a delight. She loved us more and better then any human we’ve ever encountered. She gave us 13 years and 3 days of joy that we will never experience again.
She ate with us, slept with us, traveled with us. She has been in the ocean on a working lobster boat, off the coast of Maine and swam in the cold Atlantic waters (kind of, just paddling as her Poppy held her feet just above the water)and had ice cream cones on the boardwalk at York Beach. She was a special guest at
Inn By The Sea in Cape Elisabeth, Maine.
She was scared of storms and had to be medicated. She was scared of fireworks and the sound of gun shot when hunters were in the timbers around our house. She was a challenge at these times when she was afraid. She needed special care and understanding and a ton of patience. All we gladly gave her.
She suffered from arthritis badly in her later years. We gave her prescribed medications from her Vet. At the end of her life she developed a heart murmur and it soon went into CHF and after she was diagnosed, she lived only 3 more weeks. It was in advanced stages before they discovered it, which was terribly distressing to us and we felt her Vet. had been lax in finding it because she had always had bi-annual checkups. Maybe if discovered sooner, she would have had more time with us.
My husband and I were with her when we helped her go to Rainbow Bridge. She went quietly and comfortably after a night of struggling just to breathe. I died inside when she did. I will never be the same. Her life was the world to me. Her passing will forever stay in my soul until I can be with her again.
Abby, Mommy loves you more then the Heaven’s and earth combined. You are so missed and I am sorry for the times I cry for you because I know you want me to be be happy and live my life. It is so hard to do that without you here with me. Run, play, feel the gentle breezes there where you are but always look to the horizon so you will see me coming. I can’t wait to see you again and I will hold you forever and never let you go when we meet again. I love you baby Girl Dog, deeper then is possible. You are my precious Baby and you will never be forgotten and you are never, ever out of my heart. You are the reason my heart beats even now. I hold you there, always and forever. I love you Abby, always.
November, 7, 1991 ~ November 28, 2004
All my love, for all eternity,
| Abby |
| Lynn and Juanita Bainter |