We Have Had the Worst Luck!!

It's been a bad dog year for us on the farm. Last year, the week before Thanksgiving, my beloved Magi dog died. She had 'disappeared' for a few days the week of Thanksgiving and we looked and looked and couldn't find her. Of course, when you live on the farm in the middle of nowhere, when they're gone, they're usually gone without a trace. Anyway, Jim finally noticed that our other dog, Max, was hanging out more than usual by the propane tank and when he went there to see what was up...there was Mags. She was 13 years old and had lived a good life with us here on the farm.

Then, a couple of months ago, the boys' Beagle dog, Lucky, lost his life on the paved road south of our house. I think I wrote about that little incident some time back in my blog... We had only had him for three years and he had NEVER strayed from the yard until this spring when Jim started bringing home chicken manure to spread on the field for fertilizer. I guess the pull to that stuff (YUCK) was just too much :( It led him to the neighbor across the busy paved road and he and that dog became buddies. We guess that he was probably on his way over to "visit" when he met his demise.

Then, on Monday this week, we lost our only other outside dog, Max. He had lived a good life with us here on the farm, too ~ and was getting up there in age for a farm dog. He was 11 1/2. A couple of months ago, we started noticing he was having problems walking and the vet said it was probably the beginning of hip dysplasia. At the time, it wasn't really bad enough to do anything about and we talked about what to do with him this fall. I was afraid it would get worse over the winter and he would get laid down somewhere and not be able to get back up and then freeze to death. I guess we don't have to worry about that now :( Jim made the comment a couple of weeks ago that he thought he was depressed at being an "only" dog and was getting lonely. But he had some pretty bad habits (like killing everything that came through the yard and destroying the siding on the buildings when a rabbit or something ran in there and he didn't know how else to get to it)....so we had made the decision a while ago that we wouldn't get another outdoor dog until he was gone so as not to instill those bad habits into another one.

After the boys' Beagle died, they each decided they wanted a dog...of course, they couldn't AGREE on just one. Wink wanted a mini-dachschund and Wyatt wanted a golden retriever. Since we knew the dachsie would have to be an indoor only dog due to size, and we knew we didn't want to get an outdoor dog before Max was gone, the decision was made to get a dachsie first. Thus the addition of Copper to our family almost two weeks ago now. Of course, now that Max is gone, we are plagued with the never-ending question as to why Wyatt can't get a dog now, too.

Unfortunately, this has to be a firm mom decision...with only 5 - 6 weeks left until the new baby arrives, I just can't take any more on my plate. And potty-training one dog at a time is enough for me! But it does feel strange to come home in the dark and not hear that familiar bark greeting and cold wet nose when you get out of the vehicle to go to the house...