By Frances Bryce, July 18, 2019 — A puppy came into our lives when my husband’s colleague’s dog had puppies. With no warning, my husband returned from work with a puppy and said we didn’t have to keep her if I objected. I need to let you know that I knew the outcome from the first day my 4 and seven [year old] kids saw the puppy. She was a love at first sight, and they were attached from the moment they met. I don’ think anyone would venture to guess that Ginny had a new home.
Everyone was on board. I didn’t have to do anything my husband tried to reassure me. The training, feeding, and walking, they would do, and they promised.
One day, my husband was in charge – the weekend the kids were out playing. He was reading and the puppy was nowhere near the paper or out for a walk. When I came down the stairs, I noticed the area rug was out of place. I asked why it had been removed. He said, “I needed to talk to you. Before you saw that Ginny had not been outside and she had done what any puppy not properly trained or taken outside, hence, a stain on the hardwood floor.” I was not happy and threaten[ed] to have the puppy returned to the owner, but you know as well as I that wasn’t going to happen. New promises and vows to do what they agreed in the past to take care of Ginny. The promises were kept for a few days. My husband at work, kids in school, or other activities, I was now on full-time duty.
Ginny grey and love was shared by all. I knew from the beginning, I would be the one to take care of her.
At 13 years of age she went for a walk with my daughter and her friends. The kids usually stood on the corner near the woods. When Ginny was tired, she returned. One day she did not follow that routine and when my daughter came home, I asked about Ginny, [and why] she never came home. We looked, but could not find her in the woods where the children had walked with her. We never found what happened to her. Did she know that she was old, wander someplace and die? Or did someone take her? She had given birth to a couple of puppies earlier in life so I hope that her heirs are doing well.