Losing Daisy

April 27, 2009 - 9:01 PM

This weekend Collin and I went to Portland to visit our families, but I went on to Long Beach, Wash., where my mom lives because it was time to say goodbye to a life-long family member: my dog Daisy.
I have had my Daisy girl since I was 5 years old. We got her from a sheep farm in Yamhill, Ore., because she is a Border Collie whose parents are working dogs, one of which was imported from Scotland.

We got Daisy because she was the mellowest of all of the puppies in the litter. As the years went on, she proved to be the best dog that ever was.

Now wait a second; I know you're thinking I'm just a proud-parent type, but that's simply not the case. Daisy was truly an exceptional dog.

She never barked-except of course when we had Duck football games where all of my parents' alumni friends would come to watch the games. When everyone would cheer for a great play, Daisy would join in whole-heartedly.

She always followed directions and had a vast vocabulary. When I was growing up, my father would take Daisy on a run every morning while he rode his bike. He never used a leash, but he didn't have to. He had Daisy voice-trained. At each busy street, she would stop and wait until my dad gave the vocal go-ahead. On back streets, Daisy slowed at each intersection and sensed my dad's speeds to gauge her next move.

She went everywhere with us: boating, camping, driving, everything! During the days if we weren't home, she would let herself in and out through the dog-door and play herding games with our three cats.

She never ate anything that she wasn't supposed to either. Collin's always eat whatever is left on the kitchen counter-even entire chocolate cakes! But not Daisy; she didn't need to. We fed her steaks when we had steak as a family and always brought her leftovers. And although it is discouraged by veterinarians, we fed Daisy fast food every time we went through the drive through.

Despite this, however, she lived to be 15. She lived a long, happy, and, overall, healthy life.
At the end of her life, she was blind and deaf with arthritis in her hind legs, which left her unable to lift herself off hardwood floors and landing on her tush when she went down stairs. Ultimately, her life was not very fruitful, and her "accidents" were leaving my mom's house a mess.

It was a hard decision to come to terms with because my dad and I were not sure that it was Daisy's time. She could have lived for a long, long time, but the quality of her life was sub-standard.

The good news is that she never had to be unhappy, she was smiling and wagging her tail all the way until the end. She was the sweetest dog that ever was. She was affectionate, obedient, energetic, but never hyper.

When I look back on my life, I can see a lot of things that could have been a lot better. My family life was in constant turmoil, I was never a good student, I was overweight, and sometimes I didn't have any friends. But the memories that I have of Daisy are almost all wonderful memories. She was the one consistently positive thing in my life, and I am so lucky to have had her for so long.