IPB

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

 Forum Rules Site Rules and Courtesies
 
Reply to this topicStart new topic
> My Life With Jude And Sadie, yesterday
SJ J & S
post Jul 5 2003, 11:40 AM
Post #1





Group: Moderators
Posts: 661
Joined: 27-June 03
Member No.: 4



Ian pestered me for a dog for months but we both worked full time so I kept saying no. Eventually on 4th December 1985 the day before my birthday I gave in on the condition we got two, Jude and Sadie, so they could keep each other company. They were adorable six week old puppies Sadie came running to the front of the box to see us and Jude cowered in the back looking at us suspiciously. Ian wanted a King Charles Spaniel and I wanted a Collie, we ended up with a cross between a Border Collie and a Labrador, upon first sight I fell in love with them.
We bought them home and after a couple of days they proceeded to destroy the house and all its contents, so I stopped working in London and got a job locally so I could come home lunchtime and eventually only worked part time, they loved the great outdoors and needed loads of exercise.
Sadie was the typical dog head or paw on your lap for a stroke and nudging your arm up in the air to demand attention, sniffing everything in her path, she was a solid dog more the Lab than the Collie.
Jude was over energetic and her tail had bled more than once where she would hit it so hard while wagging it, if you got her to sit still you were rewarded with the most effectionat hug.
At home they were the most loving adorable girls and very well behaved, outside was a different story.
No other dog was allowed within 100 yards of them and we spent a fortune on dog trainers to stop them running off after other dogs, they weren’t vicious just loved the chase, but it looked so aggressive, once they got to the other dog they would just turn around and come back.
Many a night I walked the street looking for them, 2, 3 4am Jude wanted her freedom and Sadie was easily led, they could jump more than 6 feet without a run.
I remember phoning the RSPCA once and crying “you’ll have to come and take my dogs I cant cope any more” the girl was very abrupt and said if you cant keep them in why do you think someone else will be able to.
Eventually we worked it out and trained them to stay by our side, Sadie was aloud to go of and sniff other dogs and play but Jude was kept under strict control, she was a bitch in more than one sense of the word.
One day I came home and there was blood everywhere, they had had a fight and Sadie had to have 16 stitches in her face, that night while staying up with her the Golf war broke out.
They loved water and would go running of into the stream and at least once a year one of them would have to go and have a stitch because of the rubbish thrown into the stream. I remember Ian coming home one day covered in blood carrying Jude the blood was pouring from her paw.
One day about three years ago a puppy Labrador jumped all over Sadie and I think her arthritis must have been bad back then because the chasing off of other dogs started all over again.
Right to the end Jude would bark at other dogs, she couldn’t run anymore but kind of fell towards the other dog and after 17 years of wishing she wouldn’t do it we were actually wishing she could.
Two years ago Jude had a stroke but she recovered and things quietened down a bit, Sadie became very quiet and a bit of a loaner, I remember sitting on her bed with her one day to keep her company but she shot up as if id hit her and went to her other bed to be on her own. It was so sad shed lay in the spare bedroom and look through to us in the kitchen.
Jude gradually deteriorated and then one morning, seven months ago tomorrow at 9am Sadie passed away unexpectedly, it was the day after my birthday she had enriched our lives for exactly 17 yrs and 2 days.
Jude had never been on her own in 17 years, we hadn’t been on a holiday together since Jude had her stroke and now I refused to go out at all except to walk her, in the end I would say walk but actually most of the time she just laid down the field on my coat watching everyone else. Id wait till see was asleep before I went to work for a couple of hours.
Jude had good days and bad days and eventually it came to the time that 10 days had passed since her last good day, so I more or less made up my mind then that the time had come but we put it off a few more days and the mornings were good but in the afternoon she couldn’t stay up but kept trying to get up.
In the morning I said to Ian as I dropped him off at the station and he was getting upset that just because wed decided didn’t mean we had to go through with it, but that afternoon she was bad and I kept thinking of my dad and how much he suffered as those last hours of his life his organs were failing fast. Jude had had evenings when she was in pain and neither I not the vet could decide what was causing this it would sometimes last 6 hours, id give her medication but it would seem to make her worse.
So finally that evening after dropping Ian off I phoned the vet to come tomorrow.
In one hours time it will have been four months since I made that call and the worst nightmare of my life followed.
We took her down the field in the morning and she laid on my coat, on the way home Ian wanted to get some chocolate so I sat in the boot of the car feeding her crisps, I remember looking up and seeing a man smiling at us as he sat in traffic, the sight of us I'm sure lightened his day and I'm glad he never new what happened in the afternoon……..

Somehow during all this they stole my heart and I didn’t even realise it was missing until they took it with them.


--------------------
Jude & Sadie, too well loved to be forgotten
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

Reply to this topicStart new topic

 



Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 28th March 2024 - 09:06 AM