It is with tears streaming down my face that I write this.  It has been over a month now since her passing and I am not over the loss of her.  But I owe her a eulogy for all that she meant to me.  There’s not a day goes by that I am reminded of her in some way or another.  She was such a sweetheart.

Although I was against adopting her to begin with, she became my best buddy after the loss of my wife, Winky.  She so depended on me.  Not only for her care and health needs but for companionship.  She always had to be wherever I was.  Sometimes she went with me in the car to run a quick errand.  I took her to visit whenever I went to Scott and Tammy’s.

She never demanded anything but love from me.  Only if I hadn’t yet shared my meal with her would she let me know with a single bark.  We shared almost all my meals.  I never shared in her meals, though.  There were times, of course, that what I was eating wasn’t good for her and with a “no”, she would give up and forget about it. 

She came to me, quivering, for protection from the thunder and lightening of our summer storms.  Loud noises upset her and she would try to hide.  If a stranger came into the apartment it would also cause her to want to hide.  She was shy around others especially men

Abbey was born in Iowa; to a breeder of Shih Tzu dogs. And in time she became a producer.  Six years later, he took her to a vet and instructed them to either find her a new owner or euthanize her.  She must have meant a lot to him…not.  I am still angry about that.

A rescue organization got involved.  She came to them dirty and matted.  Not well cared for at all.  They cleaned her up, had her spayed and all the proper shots and offered her for adoption.  A foster parent took her in for a while.

It wasn’t long after that that Winky discovered her online.  She was always searching for a rescue dog to adopt.  After Winky continued to plead with me to adopt her, I finally relented. With the condition that Wink would be responsible for her care, Abbey came to live with us.

The fosters had given her the name Mia but Winky thought it didn’t fit her at all.  She renamed her a couple of times until she hit on Abbey.   Abbey was the perfect name for her and she soon caught on to her new identity.

Being a breeding dog and kept in a cage, Abbey was not housebroken.  The carpet still bears evidence of that.  Wink got some pads to put in the bathroom in the hope that we could train her.  She would use them sometimes but usually when the urge struck she peed where she stood. 

After a while I discovered a system that took out most of the stain if I caught it soon enough.  When it got so cold outside or the snow was too deep, I let her defecate in the apartment.  I would rather clean it up than put her through misery.  But most of the time, rain or shine, she went outside.

I was still working when Winky passed away and needed to do something with Abbey while I was at work.  I considered giving her up to a new owner but in the end couldn’t do that to her.

I had an expandable baby gate that we had used to keep our other pets confined to an area.  I put that in the doorway to the bathroom and restricted her there while at work.  It would keep her from the rest of the apartment and particularly from peeing anywhere else.

I called it ‘Jail’.

I would tell her it was time to go to jail and she would come running to the bathroom.  Sometimes she didn’t exactly run. Especially when she was completely comfortable taking a nap under my office chair.  But, though she didn’t want to, she would give in and become a prisoner.

I was heartbroken the morning I had to put her down.  I think her little heart just gave out.  She woke me up about midnight with rapid shallow breathing.  I got online to check out her symptoms and the advice was to get emergency treatment right away.  I found a vet that was open for emergency care and rushed her to their facility.  The diagnoses wasn’t good.  The Doctor and I agreed on a treatment but before they could administer it she went into a coma.  It was time for everything I hate about having a pet.  She passed so quickly.  It was only 4:30 am.  I miss Abbey so much.  I don’t ever want to have another pet.  It hurts too much when you have to let them go.

I am grateful to God that she was in my life and give thanks that I got to enjoy the time I had with her.  Goodby Abbey, my sweet girl.  Rest in peace.