Last week, our sweet dog, Sadie passed away. What a gentle, loving little doggie she was! She was a Chow Chow/ Golden Retriever mix and she was ours for all of eleven years (that’s at least 77 in human years).
A faithful companion for all those years, Sadie was the perfect dog for our family. As Katie used to say, “She’s blonde, so easy-going and always happy, even with a smile on her face—just like us!” Even Mom loved her when she came to live with us, and would often say as we were eating dinner and she looked out the window, "There goes "Katie", running!" (I must admit Evan and I have both misspoken "Katie" for Sadie at times--they do sound alike and, by the way, Katie did name Sadie, so she can only blame herself!) She loved her life in the country, sunning herself on our deck or lawn and chasing the occasional squirrel up a tree. She never caught one to my knowledge, unless you count that one we found expired on the front lawn when Kathy came to stay with Mom one time, but that can never be substantiated without eye witnesses. Sadie would often catch birds in her younger years and leave them as a love offering on our back porch door mat. Such a thoughtful dog.
It was a cold February day in the year 2000 when Katie called from Seminary at 7 am in the morning and begged me to permit Chris and her to have a “cute little puppy,” who she said the missionaries had rescued but who would be “put down” if a home couldn’t be found for her immediately. A likely story! I was home, deathly sick in bed with some unknown ailment and could not even fathom taking care of a new little puppy dog. So I said emphatically, “No!” No sooner had I hung up the phone when I heard the garage door open (it should take 15 minutes to drive home from the church) and a few little yelps and squeals and Chris emerged from the garage with a cute little ball of fur. “Mom, isn’t she cute?” he said (Chris does not ever use that word and usually really dislikes it!) “She won’t be any trouble. I’ll just leave her in the garage until we get home today.” And then he took off for school. So begins our little love affair with our Sadie. (Later I found out that Chris had long since left the church and had also called Evan for permission which was given without my knowledge!)
And she really wasn’t any trouble. Somehow, the missionaries had already potty-trained her (thank-goodness!) and Evan always joked that she was one dog who never, ever pooped (we never saw any evidence of that in our yard). Soon, Evan taught her to sit and beg and even to roll over and she was such entertainment for us, yet she loved being independent as well. Often we would find her sleeping in the sun on her back with all four legs in the air. Sadie was such an active little thing as a puppy and really loved being in the country with the aforementioned birds and squirrels and other neighbor dogs. For a period, we would find strange chewed up items in our yard like ski goggles, boots and the like, never knowing from where she had stolen them. Later, we developed a ritual. After we had driven into the garage, Sadie would follow us into the house, wait at the door for her treat, and then obediently go outside. Evan soon came to say that the only female in the Nielsen household who faithfully greeted him at the door after a long, hard day’s work, had four legs and a cute, curly tail!
Those first few years, it was like Sadie had to have a partner in crime, and she and Sassy, the neighbor’s Chocolate Lab, could be seen playing and frolicking and chasing brown delivery trucks, which, sad to say, became Sassy’s undoing. Sassy was hit on one such chasing episode by the UPS man who never even stopped (the neighbors never knew if he didn’t know what he had done or was just down right heartless). Sadie was so lonely for a time until John Wayne came to live next door. John Wayne was a Sheep dog who was very jumpy, but always nice to me, I suppose because I gave him treats right alongside Sadie. He and Sadie went through a period when they would tear up all the newspapers in the neighbors’ yards (including our own) and I would sheepishly go out and clean it up. I never talked to the neighbors about it (Yes, I am a coward…) but it didn’t take long before both driveways were graced with those little newspaper holders on a post. Good solution. Then, John Wayne went through a period of biting incidents—yes, one of those UPS men got their just desserts by him (we never knew if it was the same one who had run over Sassy) and two other people I was actually eyewitness to (my seminary supervisor, bitten on the calf as he walked right beside me—I surmise that I was somehow being protected?.....and another neighbor as she was walking toward Evan and me one day on our walk.) But after these incidents, John Wayne was banished to his back yard and we hardly ever saw him anymore. Sadie was lonely once again. She still loved a good walk and there were many times, even recently as she got stiffer and more arthritic, where she came running, happily, as I clapped and anxiously began our daily walk around the neighborhood. The neighbors across the street got a Dalmatian puppy that has boundless energy, but Sadie in her old age had lost much patience for such antics. She would just bark, a little annoyed at all the activity, and keep lying in the sun.
So here’s to our sweet, faithful Sadie. I have never seen the movie “All Dogs Go to Heaven,” but now I am a true believer. Never was there a more loyal, sweet, lovable, faithful friend. As we buried her in the woods she so loved to romp and roam in, we said a prayer of thanks for all those good years of love and companionship Sadie brought us. As a child, I was raised with highly independent cats, so I never felt the loyalty of a sweet and faithful dog. Now I understand the deep sorrow felt as one says goodbye to a beloved dog. I must admit I shed not a few tears for our sweet Sadie and I will still be shedding a few more as I remember her happy demeanor and the years of joy she brought us.
