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