{ Ex Davis }
NOVEMBER 30 1989 —- OCTOBER 27 2001
Bull Terrier
(This story was written shortly after the passing of our beloved “adopted daughter” Sara.)
On October 27th 2001 we sadly said a sudden good-bye to our second Bull Terrier Wyke’s Whispering Sara C.G.C. who had cancer.
Our hearts are broken at the loss of our beloved daughter sister and
companion. She is now at the Rainbow Bridge frolicking with her brother
Apollo (https://www.in-memory-of-pets.com/personalfamilystories.asp?ID=937) her sister Rachel
and Apollo’s friend Whitey (Littleman).
She passed away peacefully in the arms of her mom and dad at the
age of 12 years. Sara knew it was time to say good-bye,
it was that look in her eyes that told us so.
Sara entered my life at the age of 4 months.
She was the runt of her litter and fought with the help of her
breeders Percy and Eddie Hailstone to live.
Thanks to their care I was able to adopt this young lady in April of 1989.
She came home and immediately fitted right in with her brother Apollo,
another Bull Terrier and her sister Rachel a Boston Terrier.
As an aside to this story Sara just met her littermate brother Tully,
who predeceased her by one month this past May at our
annual Great Manitoba Dog Party.
We always do the breed display for the Bull Terriers and
Boston Terriers and the dogs absolutely love the thousands of
people who come to visit them and find out about what great
pets they are. We hope next year she will be with us in spirit
and we know many people who will be asking where she is.
Back to our story.
Whereas the other two Apollo and Rachel were crazy Sara
was and always has been for the most part a timid little lady
very laid back and was like a ghost she was so quiet!
We attended obedience school but that was really not her thing.
We did manage to get one leg towards her Companion Dog Degree
but then between us we blew the other two we needed to
get her degree. After a long talk we decided to drop obedience
and she became a couch potato!
However one memorable moment in her life was the day she
met all the Winnipeg Jets. We were driving out of the parking lot
of a local restaurant when the players were coming out.
They insisted we stop the car and that she get out and oh my
goodness had I known the Jets were leaving Winnipeg for good
we could have had her t-shirt signed by all the big name players.
They thought she was wonderful. When they asked her name I told
them it was not Blue but Sara and that she really liked football better!
In the job I do I travel a lot and I used to take her with me and take
her into the office. She was always a favorite with our clientele
even the ones who were mad at having to pay tickets when they
saw her they forgot about their woes paid their ticket
and went away happy.
I wrote an article which was printed in our Justus Newsletter
on Sara’s Day at the Morden Court Office and how she
seemed to have the innate capability of sensing when there
was tension at the front counter when irate clients came in
and she always seemed to diffuse the situation by drawing
their attention away from business at hand.
I posed the question in this article wondering if there was
a place for dogs at work in situations like this and also to
assist employees in helping them to relieve the stress in
the jobs we find ourselves in these days.
I often took her to work with me and she would sleep happily
by my desk and I always loved to take a minute or two to
reach down and touch her or give her a kiss or go for
a quick walk.
On another occasion we took her camping.
She was not fond of the boat and fishing but sure did love the
campfires and cookouts. We went for a walk one night and
she was off leash as it was late in the season and the
campground was pretty well empty.
All of a sudden a baby started to cry and Sara took off like
a bat running towards the tent where the baby was crying
and no amount of calling her back helped.
Next thing we knew she was in the tent and all of a sudden
there was no crying! When we got to the tent the people were
petting her and the baby was watching her intently and
she was licking his tears away.
The people asked if they could keep her for awhile that night
until the baby went to sleep and for the week we camped
there she was their babysitter!!
When I got married in 1996 I now had to share her with Bob
and she loved him dearly. He could get her going with her
bully broncs and rips just by giving her loud pats on the sides
boy did she perform for him it was like a different dog
and when we got another Bull Terrier from the Hailstones,
the two of them used to race like crazy in the back yard.
After losing Rachel who was 12 at the time of her demise
we waited a whole year before getting another Boston and
when we did we brought home Bandit.
At the time Bandit was only 7 weeks old and weighed all of 3 ozs.
Well Sara didn’t know what to make of this new addition so she
stayed in her house for nearly two weeks only coming
out to go outside.
One day Bandit followed her back into her cage and sat
there looking at her and all of a sudden they were the
best of friends and she began to mother him making
sure he was bathed every night.
She sure didn’t like having a bath or having her nails clipped
and if you did either you didn’t see her for a couple of days!!
That was her way of expressing her disapproval over
these indignities.
Well we added two more Bostons so now we had three Bostons
and two Bullies. Sara loved to run with the Bostons who were
chasing each other but she always ran after them thinking
she was in the game and oh how she took care of each of them.
They all got baths each night even Zyggee thus we began to
call her Mother Sara and really this combined with the
two examples above backs up her claim to fame of
being a mother figure.
We moved to Winnipeg Beach permanently in 1999 and
oh how she loved it here. She and the Bostons would run and
run and run until they dropped Zyggee would join in on
occasion and it was fun when Zyggee would stalk Sara
and pounce on her and the race was on.
We would sit there for hours and watch them play.
Sara also lived for her Kong. We hope they have Kongs at the
Bridge for she sure loved her Kong! But balls are great too
and so are tug toys!!
However Sara would grab hold her Kong or ball and then
come up and tease you getting you to try and take it from her
which of course with her set of teeth was impossible.
On occasion you got lucky and got it to throw but not often.
She had a wonderful summer and fall this year playing with
her sisters and brothers and her Kong and it was only a
few weeks before she died that a lump came up so suddenly
out of no where and we discovered she had cancer.
The memory of her wonderful summer and fall is what we
carry with us now a month after she passed away.
On what would have been her 12th birthday Nov. 30th 2001
we went down to the Boardwalk to her plank and
said happy birthday Mother Sara.
She and I are both Sagittarians and I sure found it hard
to celebrate my birthday this year without her.
Although we still have 3 Bostons and 1 Bull Terrier
and a kitty cat the house seems empty with her passing.
She was a true character a real tease and she loved the
boys (dogs) even though most of the ones she seemed to
take a shine too had no interest in her at all but that
did not deter her affections for them and she never gave
up trying when a new beau would come along!
One night when we were just coming to the beach for
the weekend we arrived very late and it was very dark.
Sara jumped out of the car and unknown to us ran over
to visit her boyfriend next door Coyote.
We were certainly frantic trying to find her until we realized
where she probably would be and sure enough we found
her with Coyote and poor Sara Coyote wasn’t the least bit
interested in her!! She often snuck over to visit with him
but with the same results from Coyote!!
She was a treasure and a joy in our life right up to the end
and we will never forget all her characteristics.
Rest in peace Mother Sara we miss you so badly.
If anyone would like to preserve her memory please make
a donation in her name either to In Memory of Pets or
to the Winnipeg Humane Society.
If you hear the song “What a Wonderful World” please think
of Mother Sara as that was certainly her outlook on life.
She lived life to the fullest.
Our deepest thanks to Dr. Moffatt and his staff for their care
and compassion; I don’t know what we would
ever do without them.
Until we meet again Sara we send you all our love,
hugs and kisses from Mom Dad Zyggee Bandit Whitney
Derek and Big Redd.
We know you are watching over us being our guardian angel.
Your remembrances are all around us and
we will never ever forget you.
| Sara Hoel |
| Sharon & Bob |