I've said goodbye to the warmest, softest, sweetest, furriest, companion I've ever had. It's a heartwrenching day for me, and I want to wallow in it. Instead, I'm going to try to share some of the wonderful memories I have of Super-Shedder, aka Princess, Fuzzball, Her Highness, Gorgeous Girl, and towards the end... The Poopin' Pup. Mostly she was Miss Maggie.
We brought Maggie home in June of 2000. She was a ball of fur that loved being held. I carried her everywhere. One day we needed a tree to be trimmed and hired Tony to do the work. Tony had a Rottweiler named Buckles who went everywhere with him. Buckles was the best behaved dog I had ever seen.
Maggie harassed him mercilessly. Buckles finally retreated to the wagon where he could escape her jumping all over his head and nipping his heals.
Many years later, Maggie had her comeuppance. A friend went on a trip and we took care of her Shih-tzu puppy. Maggie had no idea what to do as Pepper climbed all over her head, bit her feet, and jumped on her tail. Call it Karma. What goes around, comes around.
Maggie had a few personality quirks.
1) She was terrified of feathers. She would growl and bark at them, and walk around them, but she wouldn't go near them.
2) She had a blankie that went everywhere with her. One time she stole our king size blanket off of our waterbed and brought it out to the family room. I made her drag it back to our bedroom and jump back up on the bed with it.
3) She loved sitting in the recliner with Larry. As a puppy it was cute. I warned him that she would want to do it as an adult. He didn't believe me.
4) She loved pizza, but anyone who has read this blog has read the stories of Maggie and pizza.
5) She learned from other dogs. It wasn't until she saw my daughter's beagle sleeping in a dog bed that she decided she would like one. And then after we got her one, it wasn't until Hunter slept in it that Maggie would use it.
From then on, Maggie and Hunter frequently swapped beds or even shared one.
7) Maggie loved babies. Photographs were proof of that. In them she can be seen lying next to the car seat, swing, or bouncer, letting toddlers crawl all over her or just crawl around her checking her out. Her expression in this picture says it all. Peace, love, and joy.
Maggie was truly a gorgeous dog, and I'm not just a proud mama. People said it so often I think she expected to hear it. She may have thought that was her name. My favorite picture was taken in Pennsylvania when she was a year old. The late afternoon sun just made her glow.
She may have been beautiful, but she was all dog. She went everywhere we would take her.
Larry took her fishing and they spent hours in the boat together.
Janice took Maggie to the barn when she was riding Leia. Leia was such a good horse that when Jan went out on a trail if Maggie didn't stay close by, Leia would turn and go back to get her. Maggie loved the barn, the horses and of course their water buckets. Especially the water buckets.
I took her on all of my travels. Of all the places I took her I never saw her as happy as when she was running on the beach at Hilton Head.
Although Maggie was a Retriever by breed, she belied that name. When it came to playing Fetch or Catch, she was more like Lucy in the outfield. She would duck her head if a Frisbee came too close, or watch it go by and then amble over to pick it up. Instead her talent lay in her nose. At a tracking clinic we were told she could have been trained as a tracker for search and rescue. On walks I think that's what she thought she was doing. They could take forever, if I let her. Her nose would check out every deer print, every bush, etc. One time she had her nose buried intently in the grass trying to ferret out whatever could be making that scent! When she raised up her head, she jumped. There was a dead bird lying in the grass 6 inches away.
Through agility training, pet sitting visits with Janice, trips to PetSmart and dog parks she met lots of dogs and one-on-one they were great, but gangs of dogs intimidated her. She much preferred people, overall. At the dog park I could always find her under a picnic table or sitting next to a human getting her ears scratched.
In Florida Maggie would go outside for a half hour at a time to lay in the sun. In Pittsburgh, it took her a couple of years to realize that just because the sun was shining didn't mean it was warm enough to go out and sunbathe. She would stand at the sliding glass doors and stare at the snow covered deck. I'd open the door and she'd take 2 steps out, Stop, and backup into the house again. The sun doesn't come out that often in winter in Pittsburgh. That may account for why it took her so long to catch on to the fact that sun didn't mean Warm!
We have been blessed. When Larry and I got married, my sister gave us a black Lab/Border Collie mix puppy as a wedding present. (She owned the mother Lab.) Headstrong, hyper and full of energy, Poko lived 15 years. Next came a headstrong but manageable and lovable chocolate Lab, Caia. We had Caia 14 years. Maggie, our yellow Lab, has been the most mellow, best behaved dog. She would have been 14 on March 1. In 43 years we have had 3 wonderful, but very different dogs...all Labrador Retrievers.
Right now, there are no plans to get another dog. We plan to travel alot and feel we need to be unencumbered. But the hole in our hearts won't go away soon. It will remain for days to come. But she gave me 14 years of Life, a beautiful life.. Our dogs have brought such joy. They have been as much a part of our family as our children. Right now, saying goodbye to Maggie is an indescribable pain. All I know is she had a pretty great life for a dog. And I had a pretty great life as her Mama.
Rest in peace, sweet girl.
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