Lizzie

I am thinking about Lizzie this morning, so I think I will write about her.  It snowed hard here yesterday.  As I watched Gabby and Belle outside playing in the snow, I thought of a very similar day not so long about when it was Bear and Lizzie doing the exact same thing.

Lizzie is a tough one to talk about for me.  Her ending was a really sad one...but first I will talk about her beginning, at least with us.  I think it was one of those times when my life was just not feeling full enough.  I missed the hustle and bustle of working/living in Japan and just the team that I had there.  And what do I do when I feel empty?  Get a new dog!  I think the real story was that I was picking up strays left and right and Tim really wanted to have a say in the next dog we got.  :-)  By the way, one of those strays that I helped place is still alive and doing well.  It is neat to see that. 

Anyway, it was near Thanksgiving of that year.  It is funny, I don't remember going to the shelter to pick her out.  I don't even remember getting her in the car.  What I do remember is pulling up to the house and all of a sudden I felt sick to my stomach.  What have I done?  How can we take care of another dog?  Will Bear like her?  I felt like I had taken on too much.  Lizzie was a five month old black lab mix.  She was beautiful and full of life.  And not quite yet house trained. 

Lizzie of course fit right in.  She and Bear became fast friends.  As I write this, I wish Tim was awake and I would get his version of this story as well.  Lizzie was one of those dogs though...that just IS.  She loved people, but never asked too much.  When Bear was being a pill, Lizzie was not.  The only time I remember having trouble with her was when she kept jumping our fence to see whoever walked by.  One time this guy started hitting her with his umbrella when she came to greet him.  Then he started running.  What did Lizzie do?  She ran too!  I had to run out of the front door because there was no gate in the back.  And all the while I was yelling, "Please stop!  Please stand still!"  Finally he did and of course Lizzie did too.  He wasn't very happy...Lizzie was VERY happy.  That man just played with her. 

So much more to say, but it is hard to talk about Lizzie without talking about Chipper.  I don't have time to go into his story right now.  But he was a full-bred red-brindle miniature dachshund.  He came along not too long after Lizzie came to live with us.  He and Lizzie loved one another.  She would get down at his level so that they could play.  So funny to think about...he would bite her legs and grab her ears in fun. 

Lizzie loved the river.  We moved to the country really mostly for our dogs...or at least that was my view.  Three dogs and a little tiny house.  It got to be too much and the pull of letting them run free was just too much to pass up.  Once we moved, I was worried.  Worried about if the dogs would run away.  Worried about how the other dogs who ran this property would deal with my dogs.  Worried. 

The dogs didn't run away.  Lizzie showed her grace once again.  She made fast friends with the dogs who ran this property.  One of them was Sampson.  He is HUGE.  He takes care of the goats next door.  And although Lizzie was a bit older than he, they hit it off right away.  Every time Sampson came to play, Lizzie was ready for him.  They ran and played and chased one another.  Lizzie was 7 or 8 by this time and Sampson was 2.  It was a sweet sight. 

Carl is up.  He said that this entry is good enough and that I should get off.  More thoughts about Lizzie later.