Anabelle You Will Be Missed!The Power of Animal Therapy at Home as Well as the Healthcare Environment.
My Father’s memories of the life and passing of our wonderful dog Anabelle. Anabelle was a therapy dog in the children’s hospital at the University of Kentucky for 13 years. She was an amazing dog.
Anabelle you will be missed!
Anita
In Memory of Anabelle – Canine Superb
Monday February 15, 2010
This afternoon we are dealing with our grief at the death of Anabelle our family dog of 16 years. So I’m writing my thoughts and memories.
Sixteen years ago I drove down a lane in rural Henry County on an errand to pick up a rescued sheltie with the idea of keeping the dog for a couple of weeks to see if she was desirable. Hordes of Shelties greeted me with their genetic propensity to bark. For the first time I saw a beautiful ‘tri-color”; “Oh, I hope that is her,” I thought. It was not she but Anabelle fulfilled my hope of being ‘tri-colored.”
On the way home, the year old dog that was thin and small for her age was nervous about being alone with a man. She never took easily to men, maybe because a man was the source of her abuse. I recall talking and singing to the animal. “This is crazy,” I once thought, “a grown man carrying on a conversation with an animal.”
At the end of the two weeks, even though Anabelle was still nervous about the new environment we knew she was a keeper.
It was sometime in the first year that Anabelle joined us on a trip to Pontotoc to visit my parents that we realized the Therapy Dog possibilities with her. Dad was incommunicable when we visited him in the nursing home where he was nearing the end of his long life. The only response we got from that visit came when Mom suggested we put the dog on the bed. Dad touched the dog and began to rub it with his fingers. The next day’s visit the inhabitants sitting near the doorway spotted the dog and began to move toward her with cane, walkers, and wheelchairs. They surround the dog, but she allowed it seeming to know that it was important for them.
Anabelle was certified for therapy and worked with the University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital to initiate the Therapy Dog policy. Anabelle was the first therapy dog to visit the Children’s Hospital. She received her 10 years badge for service and visited approximately three years longer until she was physically no longer able to go. She retired her position just before Christmas 2008. Anabelle had a bus pass, her own ID and spent her visiting day in the office where she received visitors regularly. She was friends with the Hospital administrator, employees and many children who came to UK hospital and many children who never left the building after their birth or illness. In return she participated in a TV commercial and promotion ad for the UK hospital laparoscopy program.
Anabelle attended the weekly orientation for new employees and demonstrated the importance of wearing your identification, and learning some of the common words in other languages. She was able to say “good-bye” to the children in English, Spanish, and others languages that the children might request.
Stories of the power of a therapy dog’s visit are extremely rewarding, I’ll leave that to my wife to tell because I did not personally experience it. Anabelle was small enough to lift and place on the bed beside the children, using the mat the hospital provided. She seemed to know when to be still, when to snuggle and when to respond with a kiss (quick lick). During the visit children smiled, laughed or just quietly patted the dog. On one occasion after leaving a child who had not talked for weeks, the parents ran out into the hall and called her back because the child spoke for the first time. Doctors have been known to see Anabelle and to say, “Don’t leave, her visit will do more good than mine.”
Entering the hospital Anabelle skipped and leaped with joy. When she knew she was leaving she sat down and refused to budge. Because she was too heavy to carry we had to get a red wagon in which to place the dog for entering and leaving. Anabelle sat in it like a princess with her head held high, barely acknowledging the adoration she received as she rode down the hall.
In the office where my wife worked she was known to be closest to whomever was eating at the time and she knew who placed food in their can and spilled crumbs on the floor. She has been known to be wrapped up in the IT wires under the desk of my wife’s director and chewed the mouse cord in two trying to get out.
She didn’t bark, she was a strong woman and could free herself if she had to!
The past few months the quality of her life has been ebbing. Mild strokes occasionally have inhibited her ability to stand and walk and for a few weeks she has not been able to get up from a prone position. Sunday we decided it was time to make the hard decision. All the children and grandchildren had an opportunity to say good bye this weekend or to be told of the impending decision that Anabelle would not be here the next time they came for a visit. This morning I cleared the snow and dug a doggie grave. At 3:00 p.m. today she drew her last breath with the help of Jennie, her vet. She was buried with her head on the pillow of the toy that came with her 16 years ago.
The loss of a dog has always been hard. We have had several dogs in our married life; however, Anabelle was a special dog, who, I believe, used the pain of her early years to be sensitive to the feelings and needs of others. She was a well disciplined dog who loved children and until the last couple of years was excited about seeing the grandchildren.
Most of us to live to the 90s, like her, lose our sight, hearing, awareness of those around us who love us. When I watched her draw her last breath in the middle of the doctor and the people who loved her, I could only wish that the time of my death could be so carefully planned by me.
Our “service” prior to taking her to the vet was to listen to the video sent today my Aunt Monti. The lyrics are below:
I look up and I see God
I look down and see my dog
Simple spelling G.O.D
Same words backwards D.O.G
They would stay with me all day
I’m the one who walks away
But both of them just wait for me
and dance at my return at glee
Both love me no matter what
Divine God and canine mutt
I take it hard each time I fail
But God forgives, Dog wags his tail
God thought up and made the dog
Dog reflects a part of God
I’ve seen love from both sides now
It’s everywhere, amen bow wow
I look up and I see God
I look down and see my dog
And in my human frailty
I can’t match their love for me
Amen and Bow Wow
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That was beautiful.
Thanks for sharing.
Annabelle certainly made my day better whenever she visited our office at U.K. I will miss her.
I’m so sorry for your loss. Our pets have always been a part of our family and I can tell from your note that Anabelle was a part of yours. thank you for sharing Annabelle with us all,
Jeff
I was privileged to have Anabelle as a houseguest one week. She was the best dog and immediately took to my elderly black Lab, Brittany. They were like two little old ladies at a tea party. Brittany left this earth before Anabelle, but I take comfort in the fact they they now have each other – on the other side of Rainbow Bridge! Good-bye dear lady, you will be sorely missed.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful tribute to Annabelle. I always loved seeing her when Jane brought her to the office. The world is a better place because Annabelle was in it.
I am so sorry for your loss, I know how special Annabelle was to your family and the UK family. I loved riding the bus with her on Tuesday mornings and incorporating her into our hospital Orientation — it was always such a novel surprise for our new employees to have Annabelle as a “presenter”. She was a beautiful and loving girl that will be greatly missed.
Beautiful tribute to a remarkable friend. She made life in the office interesting. I will always remember her looking at you for food when you walked in the door. She will be missed.
By personal experience I saw how Annabelle touched so many lives. When she visited my husband in the hospital, it was a visit he has never forgotten.
You are special people to have had her.
I am so very sorry for your loss. These dear creatures are truly a gift to us and their passing is such torment.
Any of us would be ecstatic to have a life as well-lived and meaningful as Annabelle’s. She was loved and she loved in return. Who could ask for more than that out of life? Keep her in your hearts until you meet again.