I Still Miss Her

May 17 2013, our lovely dog, Labby died. I did not really remember it has already been 3 years since she left us. Though it’s been 3 years already, I still miss her. Whenever I look at other dogs, I’d think about her. I still always like to talk about her with my elder son, as they used to be good mates.

Welcoming a new member to our family

September 15 2007, an one month old Labrador Retriever puppy has joined our family. I was actually very afraid of dogs since I was young, but my husband liked to have a dog at home, and he told me I wouldn’t be so afraid of dogs if I took care of it. So, we started to look for what dogs we like and we decided to get a Labrador Retriever, as it seems to be easy to take care of a Lab as they are usually very friendly and nice. One of my aunt in law’s friends were giving away some Lab puppies, as she already has a few adult Lab at home, and she was looking for someone who really loves and takes care of the puppies. So we went and picked her up, and we named her Labby – an easy to pronounce and sweet name.

Learning to be a parent

I was really happy to welcome this little kid to our family. When I spent time with this puppy, I was like taking care of a little child. We were happy to see her happy, we were worried when she was sick. We have been thinking how to keep her alone at home while we went to work. Even if she “destroyed” our furniture and a lot of stuff, we just couldn’t get mad at her, as she was still a puppy, and at that stage, we knew she was teething. I learned to be more understanding and also learned not to care about the materialistic stuffs or outlook so much, kid is more important. Even she made the house dirty, and obviously she could not clean it herself, I was happily cleaning up for her. She was just like our little child.

I started to learn more about dogs because of Labby. I started to understand dogs better too, hence I was not so afraid of dogs as I used to be. She liked to play with water, she liked to take shower, and she always jumped up and drank the water too. She was very energetic and playful too. She liked to play with us, and she liked to jump on us. Sometimes she accidentally scratched my hands or legs, and there were always wounds here and there, but I did not mind at all, as I knew she did not purposely make that. Whenever we went out to work, I could see her sad face, she stood closed to the gate and looked at our car while we were leaving. When we came back home, she was always lying down near the gate and waiting for us. She was always excited to see us home. Though I felt sad for leaving her alone at home, we just had to.

My children and Labby

When I was first pregnant, I was worried she might also jump on me, but she did not. She seemed to know there was a baby in my belly, she became so gentle. I requested to work from home as I was not well during my first pregnancy, Labby was the only one who accompanied me all the time when I was at home in the day time. Sometimes when I was feeling upset  or not well, I would talk to her. She just sat down and seemed to understand me. She was such a caring and loving dog. I still remember when I brought home my elder son after he was born, Labby did not jump and was not as energetic as usual, but became gentler and just walked near to me quietly. She seemed to know there was a baby in my hands, and she did not want to disturb the baby.

My elder son was not afraid of dogs since he was young, perhaps it’s because we had Labby at home. Though we still did not really dare to let them be alone when my son was young, as Labby was still very playful and running fast here and there, and she even knocked down my son accidentally. But she felt so sorry after that. Glad that my son still was not scared of her, and they became good friends. When my son was older, I just let them play together and I could see how much Labby loved my son and took care of him too. Sometimes when I was playing together with both of them, I was like playing with two kids.

My younger daughter did not really get a chance to know Labby well, as Labby died before she turned one year old. Though she was not very closed to Labby, she has been hearing us talking about Labby all the time, and she became familiar with the dog.

Becoming a dog angel again

I never expected Labby to leave us so soon, she left us before she turned six years old. We did not notice any sickness from her, as sometimes when it was too hot, she was just sitting down there and not moving much. We brought her to the vet, and the vet said it might be tick fever and caused virus infection, it seemed to be quite serious already. There was a stray dog walking around and my neighbor fed the stray dog pork. They also gave Labby some pork to eat without asking for our permission. When we knew about this, we told the neighbor not to do so, as Labby‘s skin was sensitive, we only gave her certain food that was good for her. I did not want to blame anyone, but I could not stop thinking these might be the reasons that cause the sickness too.

At that moment, I still thought she would be fine, the doctor was there to help her. She had been staying in the animal clinic for four days, and I was still quite optimistic about her well being, as she started to get better. On the fifth day, in the very early morning, my husband received a call and then he told me, Labby was dead. We were getting ready to visit her in the animal clinic, but before we visited her, she has left.

I was wondering how I should tell my son, he was just 4 years old. When we left Labby in the animal clinic, my son wanted her to come home with us, as we have been used to have her with us at home all the time. He missed her very much too. At last, I told him Labby has become a dog angel again, and now went back to heaven. She will always be there watching us, protecting us though she cannot be with us on the earth anymore. We can still look for her in our dreams. She will always be with us. While I was telling my son, I was telling myself about this too.

She is our family member

It took us some time to get over the sadness, especially my husband. I still always talk about Labby with my children, but not so much with my husband, as I know he was really sad for Labby‘s leaving. It was actually his dog, though she was part of our family. We still love her, we still miss her, and she will always live within us. I am sure my third baby will also be hearing about Labby a lot from us, though he has never meet Labby, as she is part of our family.

Note: I used Canva to create the featured image. Those two photos were the latest photos I took for Labby while she was playing with my son. My son helped to design the image. The dog, flower and heart-shaped icons were all his idea, he wanted to send them to Labby, the dog angel.

Do you have a dog at home? Do you have any stories about dogs to share with us?

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