Sweet Ellie 12/9/07 - 6/13/08

Last Friday night Bill and I got home from work late (around 8:00 PM) and drove in the driveway anxious to see Ellie and Obie. We saw Ellie lying in her normal spot and honked the horn to wake her up (as we have had to do sometimes in the past). This time, however, Ellie didn’t jump up. We stopped the car in the middle of the drive and Bill ran over to her. I won’t give any of the other sad details, but for some reason Ellie had died. We are assuming she choked on a toy (which was chewed up and in pieces around her). I didn’t realize how much she was a part of our lives until now that we don’t have her. She did everything with Bill, and was always so happy to be with us. Ellie did everything full force… she ran everywhere – was always smiling (I’m serious) - became fast friends with Obie (who is now without a playmate) – and she was also to the point of being almost completely trained. She could sit, stay, shake and lay down on command. She was house trained and knew she wasn’t allowed to leave the kitchen. Bill had also just taught her to stay out of the garden. She was teaching Obie these things too. It appears Obie is also house trained, as he has never had an accident and goes to the door to be let out after he eats. This is amazing to us as it took Ellie 1-2 weeks to learn this. Maybe she taught him?? Oh, and Ellie’s latest game was to run down the hill from the pond and end in an intentional somersault. So, while everyone else probably thinks I’m crazy, I’m not sure when (if ever) I have been more devastated. I guess I feel so responsible and just wonder what we could have done different. I’m sure we’ll recover in time. Obie is now getting lots of attention and is starting to become part of the family himself. He may be even just a bit more spoiled than Ellie. I’m paranoid about leaving him alone now – we’re hoping to make some changes soon to how we leave him when we go to work. And just maybe we’ll be getting yet another puppy in a couple of months to replace Ellie. We’ll see.