Savanna's Story

 Update: It will be almost 3 years since the passing of our sweet Savanna  and I wrote this post on August 18, 2010.
 We still miss her terribly. So much so that we have stayed a Pet Free family.  We can not bring ourselves to go through such heartache again.

I am linking this post up to Party Junk Pet Parade in honor of Donna's Dear Teddy who passed this week....
Donna, I am deeply sorry for your loss.....

We received this wonderful gift, from a fellow blogger, Tina at  One Wild Swan of a hand painted portrait of our Cassie and Savanna together even though Cassie had passed before we even brought Savanna home.....
To read about Tina's special gift to us, please click HERE

 And now this was my original post.....

The house is very quiet.......

We no longer hear the jingle jangle of her tags on her collar....

Joe and I are once again alone... just the 2 of us.... as it was when we first got married on August 12th, 1978

On August 16th, 2010, we had to say Good Bye to one of the loves of our lives..

Our Sweet Savanna



Savanna's story starts with the one that came before her........

Our Darling Cassie

Cassie was an abused dog that we rescued . She was an SPCA dog. We had her for 9 wonderful years before lung cancer forced us to make one of the hardest decisions we ever had to make.
On that day in May 2001 , all 4 of us were present when her suffering ended and she drifted off into an eternal sleep. The last thing she saw was the faces of the family that loved her more than anything.

It was hard to think of getting another dog but the hole left in our hearts was to big to fill so once again, we went to the SPCA and found our sweet Savanna.

She was about 2 years old and was completely house broken and well trained.

So once again , we opened our home and our hearts to another wonderful gentle dog.


Savanna ,modeling one of her Bandana's


Once again, we had been blessed with a sweet and gentle creature who had free run of our entire home and NEVER bothered anything and you all know from photos of my home that I have wall to wall things all over.

Here she is napping by the Christmas Tree and the platform that holds one of my villages.


She was Mommy's girl and seldom left my side. When the boys were still living at home, she was never alone as all 4 of us worked all different time schedules and there was always someone home with her.


She did not like to be left alone and would get quite upset when we did.

The sofa was her favorite place......


She was with us for 9 years but once again, cancer would take our beloved pet.
On August 16th, I came home from work in the morning as usual. She had been ill for the past several days with some vomiting, she wouldn't eat, was drinking vast amounts of water and was panting terribly, trying to catch her breath. I knew we would have to make a decision soon.


Here she is with Joe.....

Both of us , Savanna and I went upstairs to bed as she always did when I came home from working night shift.
In about an hour, something woke me.....
My sweet girl was convulsing on the floor bedside my bed....
I called the boys.....
My Joey left work immediately and my Jimmy walked right out of Target where he works without even telling his boss ( he did later )
Joe could not leave work as he car pools and he drove that day . But he had told me before that he would not be able to take her when it was time. He could not go through that again.....

When both of my sons came home, She seized one more time.
Our decision was easy to make as we could not bare to she her suffer like that again.

So my 2 boys and my daughter in love, Danielle ( Jim's Girlfriend) and I took her in the car one last time.

Once again, the last thing this sweet animal saw was the loving faces of her family.

August 17th was Joe's birthday......

It was our first full day with out our sweet Savanna. It was Joe's regular day off and instead of the Birthday celebration we had planned, we spent the day crying and cleaning the house and packing up her things to donate to the SPCA.
We will celebrate his birthday in Sunday........

She always welcomed us home.......


She missed the boys terribly when they moved out but she did get to visit Joey at his apartment...


She particularly liked this chair in his apartment..

Joey paid for a private cremation and the urn with her ashes will be placed in a Place of Honor in his apartment.

He said that he always wanted to her to live with him and now she will.......


Joe and I have decided that we will now be true Empty Nesters. Just the 2 of us....
She was our last dog as we cannot go through this again......

I will have another stone made and placed in the back yard along side this one dedicated to our Cassie.
I hope to be able to find a Doggie Angel Statue to place between the 2 stones.....



And so the house is quiet........ It is just the 2 of us.......

The sorrow we feel is unbearable right now but we know it will pass and we will be able to smile again when we think of our beloved little "girls".

Thank you for all of your kind words. I appreciate them greatly.

I need to take some time off from blogging so I will not be around for a bit. I hope you all understand. I am going to link this post up to my usual parties just so you all know that I will be gone for a bit.

Take care my wonderful friends!

Update 2013: We know that our "girls" are waiting for us at The Rainbow Bridge ......

Hugs,
Debbie