Ashley was a Cairn Terrier born in August 1997. I remember the day that my son and I went to select a puppy, but it couldn’t be an ordinary puppy. It had to be special. There she was with her brother and before I could even get closer, she was jumping as if yelling to say, “Pick Me”. We sat with her and her brother and she wouldn’t leave me alone. She kept coming up pestering me (in a good way) and biting at my shoe laces. When I picked her up to my face, she licked vigorously. My son said that one mommy and grandpa agreed.
We took her home to meet Grandma and oh boy, did we know we were in big trouble! She said, “NO…NO MORE DOGS”. She was hurt once terribly by the loss of a dog and was afraid of going through the pain again. After much pleading and begging, Ashley could stay.
My parents and I lived in the same house, but I lived in the lower section. The rule was that I was to take care of her and train her and they would have very little involvement. I noticed though after two weeks, Ashley was out of her caged area and when asked what she was doing out, I was told, “Ahhh…she’s okay, she was crying so we let her out.” Well needless to say, she captured my parents heart.
Ashley was no ordinary Cairn Terrier, but I swear she was a human. She was so easily trainable and learned almost every trick in the book. She knew all of us by name and when asked, would give a toy to “Grandma, Grandpa”, or whoever we asked. She understood every word we said and she made us laugh at the way she carried on. She was always doing things that would amaze us and much to our surprise, she would do everything that we asked. The rabbits and squirrels hated her thought, but that is a whole other story. She was not a pet, but a family member. If I were to write every detail of what she did, this would be a book.
Anyhow, my son and I had to move out of state and the 1st thing my parents asked, “What about Ashley”. I knew that taking their grandson away was killing them and if I took them both, then they would have nothing. I knew she would be in terrific hands and with them both being retired, she would get a lot of attention and love. So she stayed and she became their “little baby”. My mom said that for two weeks after I left, Ashley would wait on top of the stairs looking out the front door waiting for me to come home from work..oh how that saddened me, but she quickly got over me by my parents spoiling her Ü!
In September 2002, my mom came up to visit my son and I. Grandpa called us on Labor Day to say that Ashley wasn’t doing well, that she was throwing up. Matter of fact, she wasn’t quite herself for two weeks, but she was still playful, just sleeping a bit more. We said for him to take her to the vets, but being a holiday, it had to wait the next morning. They drew blood and did a physical exam and said to take her home and they would call as soon as they got the results. The next day they vets called and said to bring her in immediately, that she had canine hepatitis and would have to start treatment immediately. We were confused as to how she got this disease since she has been vaccinated against all diseases. On Thursday, my father and sister went to see her at the vets to boost her spirits and they said she was weak, but wagging her tail and “kissing” them. The vet said she was very sick and gave her a 50/50 chance. On Friday morning, I got the dreaded early call from the vets. The call that I somehow knew was not going to be good news. He said he was sorry to inform me, but Ashley went into a coma late Thursday night and her liver has failed. He said she would not pull through so we decided to have her put to sleep in order to not prolong any suffering.
We cried and I had to leave work because I could not concentrate. I came home and my mom was here and said, “I wish I was home so I could hold her one more time.” Within five days time, she was gone so fast from our lives. We thought she would pull through because she was so young (just turned 5), and she had so much zest for life. We learned later that she apparently had gall stones which backed up the bile from her liver and caused a bacterial infection. We were so surprised because she never showed any signs of pain nor that she was really ill until Labor Day. The vet said we are not to blame because she (Cairns) are breed to be hardy dogs and are very tolerant to pain.
To this day, I still tear up thinking of her and my parents are devastated. They lost the only baby they had left. We had her cremated because she was so special and dear to us. She sits at home in my parents house on my mom’s television in her bedroom. Her request was that if she dies, she wants Ashley to be buried with her. Still we wonder, only if, or if we did this, or could we have done that.
Ashley, we miss you terribly. If only we detected earlier your illness, I have to wonder would you still be with us? We love you and miss your presence at home and you greeting us at the door. You will always hold a special place in our heart until that day we can meet you at the “Rainbow Bridge”.
Love and miss you,
| Grandma, Grandpa, Matt & Mommy |