Millie : The One-Eyed Wonder

We are a rich family. Rich with pets, for one thing. Mostly of the canine variety... but we also have the equine variety, and the bunny...is that the rodent variety??? Even at the office we have some inherited fish that "just keep swimming".

Each of our pets - however small - is still a part of our family.

Millie entered our life early in our marriage. I was visiting Daddy in Mississippi. Millie was a gift from one of Daddy's hunting buddies in Kansas. With one small mishap - she got out his yard, ran several miles away... and Daddy and I had to head out in two different vehicles to find her. When I left to come back to Kentucky, I loaded her up in the truck, and brought her with me. At that time, her name was Molly. Since we already had a Molly, we changed her name to Millie. She got out of the car - and like and good bird dog, took off for the woods! Her little nub of a tail was wagging up a storm.

Also like most bird dogs, Millie was a little high strung, and a little nervous. She immediately found her place within the "pack" flying mostly under the radar and stirring up as much trouble as possible.

Along the way - she had a few obstacles to overcome. She had a good case of heartworms - which is common to dogs coming from the "delta" region. More mosquitoes = better chance for heartworms. We put her through the vigorous heartworm treatment - and then kept her still and quiet for 6 weeks. Not the easiest thing for a bird dog to do... but she did it nonetheless.

Just a few years ago - she came in the house after being outside on a windy spring day. Fine that morning - it now appeared her eye was cloudy. We spent over a month trying to heal her eye from whatever injury had occurred - but in the end she was blind. With an eye that was swollen and sore, and with 8 or 9 lab tails wagging at her eye level... it was better to remove the bad eye than to leave her in pain. It broke our hearts - but she got along great!

I remember introducing the girls to Millie. I was so nervous. I figured that out of all the dogs... Milile was the one that I had to keep my eye on. I was so wrong. She truly loved the kids. Rachel immediately claimed her as her own - and from that day forward they were fast friends. Rachel could rub her belly, roll her over, play with her feet... even feed her by hand. It was amazing. Not one time did she ever offer to snap or growl at any of the kids.

We noticed that Millie was beginning to lose weight. She was also acting as though she was having trouble getting around. She was getting older. Thirteen. So, because of her age we decided that we might need to fatten her up a little with some better food. But after a few weeks of trying dozens of different dog foods...the last Monday of January we took her to the vet to see what else we could try. There wasn't anything at all... she had cancer... and it was everywhere.

We took her home - and decided to make her as comfortable as possible until we knew it was time. It would give the kids a chance to say their good-byes. That week we had the ice storm - so with Millie curled up in the kitchen floor (or on the couch, where she actually preferred to lay) we spent the last week of her life.

Rachel must have known the time was coming - because on Saturday night she asked if we could sleep downstairs with Millie. So Rachel got her sleeping bag - and Mommy got a pillow for the couch, and the three of us had a slumber party on the family room floor/couch.

Millie was a tough dog... she never once let us know that she was sick. Even up until the very last day she never whimpered, never complained and never slowed down. When it was time to go outside, she got to her feet and ran out the door all by herself. She had a really good last day - with all four kids surrounding her the whole day with love and kisses.

Millie was truly loved by everyone in the family - and we all miss the jingle of that blaze orange collar with all the dog tags on it... as she would run all over the yard looking for birds, chickens or even the occasional rabbit. She was such a good natured dog. She might not have been a lab - but I don't think that she knew it! She was loveable, easy going, and like all good labs, just a smidge bit spoiled.

We miss you so much, Millie! You have a special place in out hearts that will never be filled!