Nova 1986 – 4/12/2005
by owner, Laura

Last night we had to put Nova, my dog, down.  She has been my Miracle Dog-living way beyond, what a dog of her size should be able to do (she weighed about 80 lbs). She has survived 3 cancer surgeries.  She has graced my life and blessed me.

Oh, she had lost a lot and had restricted movement, but she was my Walking Dog–taking a walk every morning as I fed the horses & another walk at the dinner feeding. Sometimes she would walk during the day too. She loved her food and demanded her treats.
Always, she had been a happy dog who knew she was loved and figured that everyone was glad to see her.  But yesterday, while feeding the horses dinner, I found her lying on a hill.  She had not walked on for ages and she could not get up. I lifted her and held her rear up as we got to the house. She never used her right hind leg. That was her stronger leg, as her entire left side, was weaker from a stroke nearly 2 years ago. We took her to the Emergency Vet, where the x rays showed that her femur, near the hip, was fractured totally thru and displaced. The x rays also showed that the bone in that area was pitted and suspect.  There was only one thing we could do…and so we did.

As the vet was injecting the lethal drugs, she turned with her nearly blind, cataract eyes and looked into my eyes deeply.  We brought her home & buried her in the grave that I had dug two years ago, when she had the stroke and I thought I had lost her.

I believe that at that deep spiritual level-that we barely understand the edges of, she had decided that it was time. Then with the help of the Cosmos, she was guided to do the one thing to fracture that bone. She was squatting on the hill taking a poop, which put a lot of stress on that leg–so it snapped.

She and all Beings knew that we would do what we had to do.  Her life has been a blessing for me–her passing was Grace & privilege.

My heart is broken, but I shall honor her & remember her.

Laura