Oct. 31 1994 — Aug. 14 2001
Cocker Spaniel
Pret was much more than a pet to our family.
Most especially to me. She was my very own baby girl.
She was born in a litter of 10 puppies who were all born on
10/30 except her. She was still born at 3:30 the next a.m.
I had talked with the vet earlier that day for last minute advise
as he was leaving and this was Reo’s (her birth mother)
first litter as well as mine to deliver.
They had warned me there might be a still born puppy and
instructed me if this was the case.
I actually breathed the first breath into my baby girl.
This included mouth to mouth and much massaging of this
tiny precious life I held in the palm of my hand.
Pret’s human daddy (Bruce) has always laughed that he was in
the bathroom during her first breaths and knew then he was in trouble.
We had decided prior to this birth we were positively not keeping
any of these puppies. I must tell you we owned a pet store at the time
and he was taking all the puppies to the store.
Pret was bottle fed from that time on.
We have pictures of her from the time she was only hours old,
on daddy’s lap at three weeks old and pictures of her first trip into
the living room and watching the T.V. to name a few
of her early pictures.
I even took some time off from the store.
Dad decided the only way we were keeping this puppy was if
she was pottie trained by the time she was 6 weeks old.
She was trained even long before that.
She got parvo at the age of 14 weeks and again mommy stayed
home from the store to care for her baby girl.
That was the scariest 72 hours of my life.
She truly is the “baby girl” at our house as we have been
blessed with a house full of kids.
They all referred to us as mommy and daddy to her.
She waited for us to come home from work and would be
greeted with mommy’s/daddy’s home.
She could tell by the way I dressed whether I was leaving for the
day or staying home with her.
She knew my every feeling and could sense when I was
sick or just feeling blue. She would always lay right on your lap,
or with her head on my hip if I was laying down.
She would sit up and watch out the window when riding and even
fell out of the car window one time at a very early age
which I’m not sure daddy ever knew about.
Mommy has been so busy with work this last year and recently
decided she was taking a little time off.
It was her brother and sister’s birthday the following weekend
and mommy/daddy/& Dillon (our grandson) were home
with her that Monday.
Mommy had gone to check the mail the neighbor was outside and
daddy ran across the yard to talk to him.
When I came in the door she wanted to see daddy so bad so
I let her out to be with him. She had recently learned to stay in the
yard and was enjoying some freedom under supervision.
She’d done very well for about three months.
As the neighbor left he ran over her right in front of daddy.
He says he watched and knew she was in trouble as she was
coming toward him.
He ran to get her and says he almost heard her say help me daddy.
He scooped her up in his arm ran to the house and we raced
to the hospital with her.
We were terrified the whole trip there (approx. 15 minutes).
The doctor told us her intestines were torn out inside there and
she would have to spend the night. I reluctantly said o.k. and
told her I’d be back soon gave her some mommy breath to hold her
til the morning and left. I called the vet later that afternoon and he finally
agreed to let me come back to see her before they closed.
I was very unsure of leaving her there and even told Bruce she
would need me to breath for her but let them convince me she
needed to be there.
Dillon and I by the way Dillon was with both Bruce and I during this
whole ordeal and he is 4-1/2 years old.
When we got back to the office I knew she was in trouble
( she looked so bad and I knew she was afraid to be in a cage)
but I held her one last time for the night (so I thought)
and gave her some more mommy breath hoping she would make it.
The vet said no way she could go home and was planning to
operate in the a.m.
She didn’t make it through the night.
Mommy Daddy and Dillon went in the next a.m. to get her.
I held her in my arms all the way home and on the couch until
daddy went to get the backhoe and come back to dig her grave.
Dillon and sissy Em along with Mingo (her brother Matt and Em’s)
puppy sat with me all crying and Mingo whimpering running
around as if she knew this was terrible.
Daddy came home and dug the grave while the three of
us stayed in the house. When the time came daddy came in
wrapped her in her blanket and carried her out to the grave.
As we sat sobbing Emily wrapped her arms around me and Dillon
Emily and I sobbed together until it was finished.
Mingo dropped to the ground beside me whimpering as the
grave was being covered.
Mingo still has trouble walking past the grave and seems very
sad much of the time. They have stayed together most every day
for the last 7 years. Even Mingo seems lost at times.
Daddy has been working on her grave and it’s looking better
all the time. There are still days I can’t breath knowing she must have
felt that way without me there that night.
Mommy and Daddy still have sad days and we’re lost most
of the time.
We leave saying we’ll be back as always and even Dillon still tells
her good-bye. He talks about her quite frequently.
There are times when we’re going down the road and he’ll sing to her,
telling her how much we all miss her and even cries in the car.
So this is a summary of the life of my baby girl.
We miss her so much and are having difficulty figuring out
what to do now.
Mommy Daddy and Dillon
| Pret - E - Lo |