If you have horses, chances are, you have dogs.  They seem to be synonymous.  In face of the many, many horse friends I have, only one does not have a dog.  Like peanut butter and jelly, dogs go well with horses, and horse people are dog people and visa versa.

I’m a dog parent of three.  Both my husband and I brought a dog to the relationship, then our little one was, well she was an “accident”.  Our dogs are so much more than fur children.  They offer not just love, but companionship, protection, loyalty, humor and so much more.  Especially in the days my husband is on the road, we appreciate the dogs with us that much more.  I believe someone once said the relationship man has made with dog, is by far the best deal we have ever made, and I believe this is oh so true.

Shorty is truly my best friend.  She is my child I brought to our relationship.  Her mother was an almost solid black blue heeler, and her father was a blue merle Australian Shepherd.  I picked her out at 6 weeks and picked her up at 8 weeks, and we have been inseparable ever since.  I cannot explain what this dog means to me.  She brush popped wild cattle with me and my first Mustang, Sally.  Sat in the grand stands in Fort Worth, Texas at the Extreme Mustang Makeover while I competed.  She’s spent nights in the truck with me, move from 4 different states, who knows how many houses, rode in every truck, protected me from every foe, talked me though many a rough choices, smiled that heeler smile at me when I threw the tennis ball.  She has had a toe broke, many ribs, her nasal cavity, concussion, torn both acl’s in her stifles, split her lip and had one too many run in’s with cacti all from ornery cattle, nasty horses, rough dirt roads, playing too hard and our mutual outdoor adventures.  She’s had a hell of an exciting life for a dog.

She will be 11 years old in February.  I found a lump on her side last night.  My logic is telling me its almost positively a fatty benign tumor.  But, matters of the heart don’t often listen to logic.  She’s 11, and I have not prepared myself, if that is even possible, for her growing old.  I cannot bear it.  Cannot stand the thought of what life may be like one day, without her here.  I’ve never had a more faithful or loyal friend.  They say parents should not outlive their children.  But, when you sign up to be a dog mom, you know that day will inevitably come.  Dogs just don’t live as long as people.  It’s not something you think about when you’re holding the squiggly puppy, smelling the sweet puppy breath, loving their little heartbeat.  But you sign up for the heartbreak anyway.  A lot of people will chastise me for comparing the loss of a child to the loss of a dog.  And that’s fine.  I know my heart.  And I know what that dog means to me.  In fact their have been recent studies saying that the love is the same, it is just as powerful.  So to those of us who see our animals as equal, sentient, loving beings, the thought of loosing our child, is terrifying.

I’ve been around animals enough, unfortunately had to euthanize enough, I know what to look for from now on.  More regular health checks, more vet visits, quality of life, not quantity….  I know, I know.  I believe she still has a good long road ahead of her.  She plays with our youngest, is still game for walks, rides in the truck, playing ball.  She’s far from ready.  I pray I have many, many more years.  I pray that the biopsy comes back negative.  I pray my baby stays as long as she can.  But I also know the inevitable reality of aging dogs.  How do you prepare for that?  Can you prepare for that?  I don’t know.  All I know, is I will be in for a whole new kind of heartache.    You cannot expect an angel to walk the earth forever.