Shiva had to be put down on Tuesday afternoon - bone cancer made short work of her front right leg and made moving impossible. Right to the end, however, she was positive, and she didn't suffer much pain. The vet came and did it at Mom's house because moving her would have been painful and nearly impossible for her. She was one of the good ones. I waited 'till I could get an image off my home computer, and I'm glad I did, even though waiting has made me a little late.
I put the rest of this post after the break - no reason to have everything above the fold.
I'll never forget the way she'd do her groan/growl thing that sounded so terrifying but was really so happy - you'd put your head on hers and rub her side, maybe squeezing a little, and she'd just start a low groan that was truly unique. She loved being around people, loved hearing our voices, and was maybe too good at recognizing patterns of the things we did. When there were 3 dogs in the house, she'd get all excited just as dinner was ending, get the other two all riled up, and then when one of us let them out to race around, she'd bolt about 2 feet and then stop, turn and come back in so she could get the scraps. It was dog-psychology at its best. She'd do this thing when she wanted to come in where she walked around the house, looking in the windows and then, when she found you, she'd just stare at you till you got the message, then she'd happily meet you at the sliding door, wagging her stump at her cleverness. Of course, when she didn't want to come in, you'd know that, too. She could affect deafness with the best of them. It took some doing to get her off the hillside when all she wanted to do was lie in the sun and watch the world go by - nothing like waiting on her when you were just trying to get the heck out of there. She was the cleverest gift-unwrapping dog I've ever known, too. She knew what the deal was, too - like mini tug-of-war until all the paper was gone (as soon as one came loose, she'd drop it - she never got distracted from the goal) and she could stick her nose into the box and get whatever was inside. I didn't even know that dogs could conceptualize things like that, but she did.
Anyway, I'll miss her, and I know my mom will miss her more - 11 years is too short a time to know a dog like Shiva.
Rest in Peace.
