Our Baby Kitty Dog is in Heaven

Our family Dog   - Baby Girl, went to heaven on Dec 6^th. She got hit by a car and her back leg was crushed…to fix it would have cost thousands of dollars and no real hope of recovery…so we opted to put her to sleep. OUr friend - Vet Eric Belnap, helped us with this decision and Laila held Baby as Eric injected her.  It was very a peaceful and teary time.  My heart was breaking watching Laila with her Baby Girl.

I love this picture of 5 year old Laila laying on old Stephi dog , with Baby in the foreground.  Laila has always had a dog around her  her entire life…and it will be really hard for her to be with out .

Baby Girl came into our family 11 years ago for Christmas…Laila was almost 5..and this little ball of white fur was her puppy.  Laila wanted to name her Roseanne after her birth mom, but I convinced her to save that for one of her children and we knew this would be the last member of our family so we opted for Baby Girl. 

We had Baby in our family Christmas card Dec. 2008

 Baby was a quirky dog…she couldn’t stop licking even when we tried and tried to stop her.  She would even lick the air- over and over and over again.  She wouldn’t wear a collar…she would just rub her neck on the ground, spinning in a circle , trying to get it off until we finally would take it off her.  She used a litter box for her business just like a cat.  Because Baby was like a cat we could go out of town over night and leave her alone in our home. With food, water and a litter box she did great. She didn’t bark like a dog, but made sounds that sounded like “meow”….like a cat …so after Lauren Nickl- a family friend noticed this she called Baby “Kitty”  and then  we  all started calling her Kitty.  Baby had a weird honking noise she would make when she got too excited.  Actually her wind pipe would collapse and she would wheeze until we helped her by tipping her nose down and opening up her wind pipe again.   Baby was a special needs dog…but we loved, or tolerated her just the same….depending on who you talk to.  The last two years Baby has been deaf…we noticed this when she stopped greeting us at the door when we came home… and she wouldn’t come when we called her. It’s been a challenge these last two years, especially when she got outside and we couldn’t call her back in. 

I asked the kids to share some baby stories…

Laila loved cuddling with Baby watching a movie or whenever she felt sad.  Laila took a picture of  Baby almost every day and  her phone is filled with these.

Baby was very soft and fun to pet.

When Monson and Lexi stay over in the basement…Baby always left a special poop present at the bottom of the stairs just for them.

Every time Laura Belnap would come over Baby would honor her as the Alpha Dog by peeing in front of her.

Baby loved having grand kids.. because they were little and sticky. She would lick their faces and hands and the kids would be crying and we would just tell them to stand up because then Baby couldn’t get them. 

Baby loved running a figure eight every night from our bedroom into Laila’s bedroom and back.  Wayne would egg her on by saying, “Crazy dog is in the house”  over and over again.   It would really tucker her out and make it so  she slept soundly

Baby slept in our room every night…right by the side of my bed on a pillow.  She had the most annoying habit of licking everything, including herself in an obsessive manner and Wayne and I would  go nuts listening to this..and finally have to distract her or throw a pillow at her to get her to stop… but she wouldn’t sleep any place else….just cry and whine all night, so we let her sleep in our room and lick all night.

Tayla  and Alfie loved to give Baby a treat… it was so cute to watch.  Tayla would come to our home and  the first thing she would do is give the dog a treat.   Lexi had to explain where the dog is and said, "the doggy is going to live with Jesus now"…and her eyes got big and Tayla said, “Yay Jesus!”  That's what I say too.  I know all dogs go to heaven. 

This death ends the Dog chapters in our family’s life.   We have had an Old English Sheep dog named Lucky who after a neighborhood Chicken incident ended up going to “the Farm.”  A brown and white “mutt” named Sonny who Puppy guarded Truman and Monson for a full Christmas morning. They never left the back of the couch..  Sonny didn’t last long…and ended up at “the Farm.” as well..  A golden Cocker Spaniel named Blondie..that didn’t last long once she got out of the back yard and ran into the road and a car killed her right in front of Addison’s  terrorized eyes.  We had a black and white maltese mix- Milli dog that was around for a few years, then  my brother Adam rescued her from us and she finished her dog life with him.  A golden Lab named Stephi that Addison trained to be a Guide dog…that we eventually got back after the blind person couldn’t afford the expensive food Stephi needed because she was allergic to regular dog food…and for the 2 years we didn’t have Stephi we had a German Shepherd that my Cousin Jenny took, when we got Stephi back.    Really the two dogs that we consider our family dogs are Stephi and Baby…they stayed with us the longest- through the kids childhoods and in to adulthoods and both of them lived long lives and had to be put down.

So now we are dog-less
No more having to pick my dog up every time someone comes to the door and hold her the entire time we have visitors to protect the visitors from her lick. I actually appeared to be “ one of those dog people” as a result.

No more excuses from Laila about going into the laundry room because she hated stepping in the kitty liter granuals scattered on the tile and the smell of that bathroom.

No more buying kitty litter for a dog or treats to give every time Baby used the litter box

No more having to hold her on my lap keeping her legs together while I drove with one hand to the vets or groomers to keep her from pooping in my car.

So… I guess you could say I’m free at last.  Having a dog is really a mom’s job anyway…feeding, cleaning up after.  Oh you can say the kids will do it, but we all know how that eventually turns out.

So.............We are in mourning over here and  my  quiet days filled with a dog on my lap or at my feet keeping me company are over.