On Friday afternoon, March 1st, our darling Rosy left us. She was our heart dog, our soul dog, our heart-and-soul dog. Our house is empty of the joy she always carried with her, and there is a huge Rosy-sized hole in our hearts. Our dear little parrot Rascal is still with us and trying his best to cheer us up, but he misses her, too.
We’ve had many wonderful dogs in our lives, but Rosy was the smartest, the cheeriest, and the easiest. Her tail started wagging first thing in the morning and kept wagging until she fell asleep at night. She fit so perfectly into our lives that it seemed like she could read our minds. She understood words amazingly well, but she also understood us without words. She loved everyone, and everyone loved her. Strangers stopped us on the street to say “Your dog is so cute!” or “Her eyes are so beautiful!” or “Love that tail!” Someone once called out from their car, “What a lovely dog!” Yes, indeed she was.
We never figured out the mix of breeds that produced this little charmer. Chihuahua, obviously. But then there was the long body and relatively short legs — dachshund? And what about that tail? Definitely a lab tail. She also had coarse curly fur on her back and the craziest curly whiskers. We eventually gave up trying to figure it out and were just happy that fate had brought all those genes together.
Rosy came from a shelter in Los Cabos, Mexico. When they rescued her, she was pregnant, and she gave birth to three puppies. After the pups were weaned, a rescue group in Portland called Rescue Faerie brought Rosy and her little family here to be adopted. The day after she arrived, I saw her photo on Petfinder and phoned for an appointment to meet her the next day. Both my husband and I fell in love with her, and we took her home immediately.
When we adopted her, her name was Gorda (“Fatty”) because she was about seven pounds overweight. She obviously needed a better name! After a few days getting to know her, we chose the name Rosy because of her unfailingly rosy outlook on life. We’ve never known a cheerier being, animal or human. She loved going on adventures, but she was just as happy to hang out at home, curled up on her favorite dog bed or lying between us on the living room couch. She loved sunny walks, but she didn’t mind the rain — which was fortunate, considering how much it rains here! She was simply always content.
We always felt that she was an old soul. And when the time came for her to leave us, she proved that.
She had been diagnosed in December with malignant tumors in her lungs, likely metastases from lymphoma. The cancer didn’t cause any overt symptoms and she was not in pain, so our vet put her on some strengthening medications to help her have as many good days as possible before the cancer took over. She was her sweet cheery self for close to two more months, then about three weeks ago she started losing energy and slowing down, though she fought hard and valiantly against her decline. But yesterday morning she refused to eat. By noon, she was disoriented and wobbly, and her breathing became labored. So we knew it was time to call our vet to come to our house and put her to sleep.
We put Rosy on the couch between us and held her, talked to her, and patted her all afternoon. Our wonderful vet arrived around 4:00, confirmed that the time had come, and gave her a sedative to calm her before giving the injection that would stop her heart. But as soon as the sedative took hold, Rosy made her own decision to die — she took several big breaths and exhaled her spirit out of her body. As agonizing as it is to have lost her, we feel comforted that she left on her own terms.
Here are a few photos of our sweet girl:
If you’re lucky enough to have a beloved animal companion with you, please give them an extra hug this morning in Rosy’s memory.