In February of 1995 a spunky little 6-week-old Tzu girl came into my home and heart, and changed my life forever. I had picked her from a litter of six or eight; what I recall was all the darling balls of fur: black and whites, brown and whites, and two brown with black faces … boys and girls … and how difficult I thought it was going to be to choose one to be mine. But one little dark-faced girl stood apart from the rest, just staring at me. The others were frolicking and vying for my attention but she just stood there, daring me not to choose her. Her attitude, then as well as for the next 18-1/2 years, was impossible to resist.
I named my baby girl Abigail Anne although during her lifetime she was known by many nicknames, including Abbydammit as a willful puppy and Princess Abby in her diva middle age. Whatever she was called, she would respond … well, for the right incentive. She was more than merely food-motivated; she lived to eat. She would dance on two legs for special treats. I think the only meal she ever met that she didn’t particularly care for was dog food.
Abby was trained by my first dog, Suzi Elizabeth, and they were absolutely inseparable until we lost Suzi to kidney failure in 2003. She was a sometimes patient “big sister” to shy puppy mill rescue Billy, who joined us in 2000, but other than Suzi and Billy she had no use for other dogs. She was not, in her well-considered opinion, a dog. She was a highly annoyed little being in a Shih Tzu suit whose purpose in life was to be cherished and well served. I did my best.
Abby was a well-traveled road warrior who visited 18 states. She and John’s Rottweiler Ben were Maid of Honor and Best Man at our wedding August 1, 2008 in the Outer Banks. Ben loved the sand and the surf; Abby loved the food. They began taking walks together on that trip and Abby was quite competitive. It was very important to her to stay ahead of her much larger buddy even if the pace was as fast as her little legs could carry her.
Beautiful, strong and amazingly healthy in her younger days, the last four years of her life brought some serious challenges. More than a few times she rallied from what we feared was the end and made nothing short of miraculous recovery. We owe our wonderful veterinarian, Dr. Brad Gividen, and veterinarian acupuncturists Dr. Grace Calabrese and the late Dr. Margie Knoll, a tremendous debt of gratitude for their efforts in helping Abby enjoy quality of life right up until the end.
Her most recent nickname could have been The Comeback Kid, but today our precious baby girl ran out of miracles, and has joined her friends Suzi and Billy at the Rainbow Bridge.
I feel like I left my heart and soul on that exam table. On the ride home, I thought of a line in a Garth Brooks’ song which pretty well sums up how I feel today:
“I could have missed the pain but I would’ve had to miss the dance”
In Loving Memory of Abigail Anne Walker Eckert,
| Abigail Anne |
| 5, Aug 2013 |
| Bekye & John Eckert and Michael Walker |