Farewell To Willow A Faithful Friend

Our wonderful pal and buddy Willow went to the Bridge today at 9:30 a.m. and is now playing at the Bridge with her friend Melody . Melody was our cat of 16 years, she has been gone a year now and still greatly missed. In their younger years the two did have their fun playing and chasing each other. Willow would of been 11 years old this coming February 28th., 2009.

We don't know who her owners were because we got her at the shelter when she was three months old. They did not have a clue because they rescued her from the side of the road. I can remember when we first saw her at the shelter, she was peeking over a pen they had made for small puppies in the middle of the room. She had incredible brown eyes that could look at you and get what she wanted.

We were not looking for a dog at this time, I am more of a cat person, but I grew attached to Willow over the years, she was a wonderful dog, half beagle and some kind of terrier. When we had her groomed she looked like the beagle, she never did like to go to the groomers and would spend most of the time barking. My granddaughter was the reason we got Willow, it was after a trip to the shelter with her class and the begging started , her teacher would constantly tell us we needed a dog. So guess what happened, Willow.

When we first got Willow she was sick and we had to take her to the vet, she had some kind of virus, it did not last long. When she would play with you she bit too hard and when corrected she would back off and bark and run at us. Over the years her favorite toy was her stuffed bear, the one she ended up with was the only bear she never tried to chew the stuffing out of. These are the things she like, pig ears from Meijers, bird seed in the yard, cheese, actually any human treat she could beg from us, she was never fond of her dog food, best of all she liked to be scratched.

Willow was a people dog, that is she prided herself on being our official greeter at the door, wagging and barking greetings. When we would take her for a walk she would stop in the drive way of every neighbor that came out and petted and spoke to her, if they did not come out that time she would go her merry way. It was sad to see her slowing down and when diagnosed with congestive heart failure the vet said no more walks, just roaming the yard, she did like that also.

I have to mention that in 1998 Willow saved the family from a house fire. When we first got her we put her in my granddaughters room in a cage until she could get use to running the house and she was not house broken yet. I heard her barking very early in the morning, which was unusual because she did not get us up until around six am. I went upstairs and opened Sarah's door and the room was filled with smoke, I immediately woke everyone and got them up and we all went outside with all the animals, I had already called the fire department. What had caused the fire was a faulty wire in the wall socket, it caught on fire just as the fire department came, not much damage was done to the wall. We called WMUS news and they came and took the story and videoed it and it appeared on the news, we were so proud of her. I feel bad that we did not contact the city and have her receive an accommodation for bravery award. I forgot to mention she loved hot dogs.

Goodbye old friend we will greatly miss you, see you at Rainbow Bridge, we love you.