You came to us as a puppy, a beautiful blond cocker spaniel mix.

It was your maternal instinct that stood out.  I will always remember how you loved to groom the other dogs and how they easily submitted to your will to groom them. 

And you were brave. You would stand guard when we would camp out in our patch of the woods.  It was not only your immediate family that you would protect.  Anyone who was out there camping could count on you standing guard outside of their tents. It made no difference to you if the coyotes were howling; you were there.

You swallowed a fishhook that had to be surgically removed. You survived being hit by a car and having your legs bandaged. You had seizures and you survived all, yet you could not survive your fear of loud noises. Ultimately this fear took your life. It was during a thunderstorm when we were not around to protect you that you sought refuge at the neighbor’s front door.  And as a cowardly act, he shot you knowing that you were our own. He left you outside our front gate to die by yourself.  Had we known we might have saved you from this horrible death.  It was days before we found you and many weeks before we found out what had happened to you.  My little Blondie, you had more courage in your little paw than this person, who called himself a man.

You are now out of sight, yet your spirit is still with us. My little Blondie…