Casey

"Saving one dog will not change the world, but surely for that one dog, the world will change forever.  So did my life and the lives of my entire family.  Casey was part of and still is, a part of our family.  We are adjusting, but surely not forgetting.  We trip over ourselves trying to ignore the fact that she is gone. It is still just too sad to talk about.  We start things like "Oh remember when we were in the pool last summer and we had to keep Casey off the deck....." or "Gee, it's funny not to have Casey eating anything dropped, or not tripping over her as she was always under foot."  We reminisce without saying too much at all.  We are all thinking the same thoughts.  We are all wondering if we get another dog, what will it be like.  We wonder if it is too soon.  We wonder if it is disrespectful......then think wait......to a dog???  She was so human-like.  She knew what was going on.  When she could still see, she would pout when she saw suitcases.  She would nuzzle up when we were sad or lonely.  She missed the kids when they would leave.  She was so excited when they came home.  She was quite a beagle!  She patrolled the yard.  Against what we weren't sure....the UPS truck?   the mailman?  the meter reader?  Anyone and anything.  Squirrels, birds, helicopters flying overhead.  The picnic table was her perch.  She would get a running start and spend most of her time while in the yard on watch.  She had a 360 degree panoramic view.  And that bark/howl.  It could be annoying but endearing.  6AM?   Didn't matter.  She had created holes in the wood fence that enclosed 2 sides of our yard so she could observe any other dogs that might be on a walk and of course, bark!  She loved all seasons and loved to lose herself and "hunt" in the far corners of the yard and under the pool deck.  Once I came home to see her carrying what was left of a squirrel.  In panic, I thought she had been hurt and speed dialed our vet, wondering what should I do.  They assured me that she probably was not hurt, just clean her up and bury the squirrel.  Then my vet mused "must have been a slow squirrel."  Another time, I was planting flowers in the spring and came upon a bunny that had been "Caseyed" and buried and saved for later.

We hadn't planned to have another dog.  When we were first married, I talked my husband into getting a German Shepherd mix.  We had plenty of issues with her.  She was large, hard to walk, chewed everything, preferred to live outdoors, had 2 liters of puppies, (only one planned), barked at everything, had skin issues that warranted a trip to MSU for observation, was displaced when the kids came along and died at 14.  I vowed not to take in another dog.  It wasn't fair I said.  We are gone too much I said.  Matt begged for a dog, "No" his dad said.  But one day, there she was.  Matt and Amanda "rescued" Casey from a family that didn't want their one and a half-year old beagle.  They were going to take her to an animal shelter.  Matt was friends with the girl who owned her and had become enamored with Casey.  "Please" the kids begged when Casey came for a visit.  "We have to make a decision quickly" Matt complained or they are going to get rid of her.  All it took was one look and I was hooked.  We bought a second hand cage from a friend of Amanda's and we were dog owners.

We decided she should live in the basement as Matt slept there and he wanted her with him.  She did not like the cage at night (she stayed in it during the day at first) and Matt wanted her to stay downstairs so he hooked some weights to a chain to her collar.  Well, not meaning to, this created a major neck injury that nearly did her in.  On Memorial Day weekend, we spent time in the Doggie ER and of course, they wanted to send her to a neurologist, which we did not do, but several more trips to the vet resulted in a morphine patch that she had to wear most of the summer for the injury.  She recovered but not before being carried out to the vet on the morning of Andrew's graduation party, whimpering in pain.  I thought I would never see her again.  She recovered and the shaved area, where the morphine patch was placed,  was a contestant reminder of her pain until it finally grew hair over the winter.