My husband and I took a road trip to Winston/Salem back in 2008. We had an opportunity to meet the owner of the Collie Rescue there. When we arrived, we could hear all the hellos from the excited fur babies inside. As we walked through the house and met all the precious babies, I came upon the kennel of a quiet, beautiful tricolor collie mix, my heart melted when I saw her looking up at me. It was love at first sight. My husband said she saw “SUCKER” on my forehead, maybe so but we brought her home and named her Maggie. She was around 2 years old and had come from a very abusive home. She did not like men but learned to put up with my husband.
I took Maggie everywhere with me, she loved car rides, walks on the beach and just sitting next to me at the office. After a few years of her going everywhere with me, I started noticing she was getting very protective of me, especially at the office and I could no longer let her come to work with me. It broke my heart to have to leave her at home. I just hated leaving her there by herself, so we went back to the Collie Rescue and got another Collie mix. He was a frisky black and white with a little tan mix on his face. We named him Shadow, it took awhile for Maggie to warm up to him, but she eventually stopped picking fights with him, probably because Shadow was pretty good at sticking up for himself.
Maggie enjoyed catching frisbee’s and tennis balls while Shadow chased after water from the sprinkler, (he was always easily amused).
It was a few years back when I started noticing on our walks that Maggie was getting slower and slower, she eventually would stop and lay down to rest halfway through our walks. We took her to our vet, and she noticed the muscles in Maggie’s back legs were getting thinner and thinner. Maggie had also lost her hearing; her eyes were cloudy. There were times we noticed that when she went outside, she would just stand there, almost like she didn’t know why she was out there. My poor girl was going downhill fast.
I was at a complete loss. As far as we knew Maggie was around 16 years old. I felt I was being selfish making her live like this. She no longer could play outside like she used to, she could no longer handle car rides. She had lost all her bodily functions. I felt like she was just living to keep me happy, and that was not fair to her. I spoke with our vet and asked if we could have her come by after I had spent some more time with Maggie, and we agreed on January 4, 2023.
Well, that day came sooner than I expected. I took Maggie and Shadow on a short walk. My husband and I laid a sheet out for her to lay on, because she was tired after the walk. Shadow and I sat next to her.
I reflected on the memories of her enjoying the few snow days that we had and how she loved to run around in the snow and chase after the snowflakes. We rested and listened to the birds singing to her. It was a very peaceful time.
As I saw our vet pull up, my husband took Shadow into the house. It wasn’t much longer, and our precious Maggie rested peacefully there in our front yard, a place she loved to run and play.
Shadow misses Maggie, and so do I. Soon you will be seeing Shadow and I on the beach once again. It has been a long time since I have had Shadow on the beach. You may even see us walking over the Surf City bridge. We will be bringing Maggie in our hearts along with us. We hope to see you there, Shadow loves attention from people and their fur babies.
