A Rough Few Days

I know most of you have pets, be they snakes, lizards, spiders, rats, dogs, cats, sugar gliders etc.
We never truly 'OWN" a pet. You hear that expression used ; "he owns two horses and a dog"...No he doesn't. He shares his space with his animals. When we own something, we can sell it, give it away, break it, or have it forever, tucked in a draw. Our pets are not forever. I'd like to introduce you to one of my pets.
Her name is Rosie

Rosie came to us in the fall of 2002 as a tiny little pup. WE brought her home and when I got her out of the car I put her down on the grass and said "You must have to go potty bad honey"...with this she squatted, did her business and I just jumped for joy, told her what a wonderful little puppy she was and that was that.
Don't I wish all my dogs were that easy to train? Shorty after that she was forced to spend 9 hours in a snow storm, in the car, then spent two days at a friends in a strange environment. She made us proud. Everyone expected this poor little pup to at least have an accident, if not cry all night. Rosie did neither. She remained calm and when she was put outside she did her business. She has been an absolute delight to us her entire life.
Two years ago Rosie developed some sort of allergy. It caused her to lose her hair, go blind in one eye, she was a mess. We felt she was suffering and made up our minds to do the right thing. It was a hard decision but I have always said to people 'you have to love enough to let go'. and we certainly loved Rosie. The Vet said he wanted to try a shot that had worked on other dogs, would I mind?Hell no!! Rosie responded, hair grew back and her eye cleared up . It was amazing to see her improve with each new day. Another year passed and then suddenly the same thing began to happen so back to the Vet we went. I fully expected him to say this was the end and I had accepted it in my heart.I was prepared.
He said he had never seen a patient need another shot, but he was willing to try. At that time Rosie had developed a big knob on  her leg that proved to be a slow growing cancer. The Vet said the time may come we would have to remove the leg but she was still using it and was in no pain. Once again Rosie responded to the shot Bless her heart, she just wasn't ready to leave us yet. This time her hair grew in thick , soft and more beautiful then ever. Don't you agree that she looks like a dog in pretty good shape?
Last week, Rosie stumbled up the only two steps we have. I noticed she couldn't put the leg down, but bless her heart, she still manages to let us know when she needs to go out and she still goes down those 2 steps but with difficulty. I made a sling to help her back up the steps (I lift her hind end and she uses her front legs).
This week has been hard. I look at her beautiful face and tell her I'm not ready to let her go. She looks back with those sad eyes, almost like she is sorry that I'm hurting.
So once again, like twice before I am telling myself 'she deserves better' . Once again I sit here wondering if she is in pain. If I knew she was in pain the decision would be easy. All I see is the difficulty she has getting up, sort of like me when my knee is bothering me. Should I be put to sleep? So once again I will bring her to the Vet. She can no longer stand on that one leg. I feel she is two old to remove it. 12 years old is old for a Lab or any other large dog. 10 to 15 years is about all we can expect. My dogs usually make it until 16 to 18 (I've been lucky) . Looking at it another way, we've had Rosie's love for two more years then we expected and that was truly a gift. I feel blessed to have  had her this long. She has been nothing but amazing.
I felt a need to share her with you while she is still with us. Keep a happy thought for Rosie that all goes well when she sees the Vet on Tuesday. I will do what ever it takes as long as it helps Rosie.
Thanks for stopping by.