She was 'Meant to Be'

I’ve been asked to explain why I consider Chili my ‘meant to be’ dog. Was I evil in a former life and now Karma is getting me back? I don’t know about a former life, but I do know that I’ve kicked some ass in this life. Sometimes it was required, and others, well, let’s call it inexperience. No, she’s not my ‘meant to be’ dog as a punishment even though it felt that way sometimes.

Chili was born to be my dog. She was born to kick the crap out of me. No matter what we’ve been through together, she’s been good for me. I’ll tell you how it began.



Ruby

 Chili’s story can’t begin without saying a few words about Ruby. If you’ve read my profile you know a little bit about her. Ruby was my husband’s dog when we met. He had already done all the training so all I had to do was love her. I met her when she was 8. Ruby was a Newfoundland/ Rottweiler cross. Such a beautiful girl and boy did she love her daddy. I couldn’t believe the way she looked at him. It’s not something I would have believed if I hadn’t seen it. She really drew me in with her big eyes and wiggly bum. It didn’t take her long to have me wrapped around her paw as well.

When she was 12 she developed a lump that concerned us but the vet recommended that we leave it alone because of her age. We didn’t want to put her at risk so we took the vet’s advice. The lump continued to grow. The next time we had her at the vet, she wondered why we hadn’t gotten the lump removed. What?! Wait! Weren’t we told that it would be better to leave it due to her age? We were confused. We scheduled her for surgery right away. We should have gone with our gut.

Once the lump was removed the spring in her step had returned. The lump had literally been sucking the life out of her. She was renewed and we were ecstatic. By the way she was acting we figured we would have our girl around for at least another 2 or more years. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards. Six months later we noticed that she had suddenly lost a lot of weight. It was as if it dropped off overnight. I knew that dog better than I know myself and I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t noticed this. A couple of days later she started getting sick. After a painful week of vet visits and tests, we were told that she had a cancerous lump that had ruptured at the base of her esophagus. It was time to say goodbye.

I still feel guilty. Why didn’t I do more? Did I fail her? I was part of the decision that ended her life. Who does that? What if....? We lost Ruby on November 25, 2008.

The house felt very lonely and quiet without her. We really missed her. We knew that we wanted another dog so I started searching. During my search I practically lived at the SPCA. There were many dogs that I saw that were great but none of them made both of us say, “That’s the one.”

On January 8, 2009, I saw there was a 5 month old female RottiX at the SPCA for adoption. I went to check her out and as I got close to her cage, her tail started thumping. She seemed so bright and happy. She looked like a Rottweiler but where there would be tan, there was brindle. I went to give some attention to the other dogs and as I walked back to her, there was the thumping tail again. I knew she was the one. I called my husband right away to have him come to see her but he couldn’t make it.

The next day, I was at a business lunch when my friend Carol phoned. I decided not to answer and to call her later. After 15 minutes my phone rang and it was my husband. He said Carol had phoned him. Carol lives above a veterinary office and saw some dogs come in from the SPCA. She went down to check them out. One of them caught her attention. Even though she’s never spoken to my husband before, when she couldn’t get a hold of me she had to phone him. She knew that this dog was the one. The dog was a 5 month old female RottiX with brindle that had come in to be spayed. It was the same dog. She would be returned to the SPCA that afternoon after her procedure and we would be there to check her out again. When we arrived she was still groggy from the procedure but her tail thumped on the ground. She wouldn’t be available for adoption until the next day so we agreed to come back.

After a very sleepless night, we arrived at the SPCA at 11:30am. I was so nervous. We waited in the front with other people for the viewing hours to start at noon. There were a couple of people ahead of us and as soon as the front desk people were ready my stomach started to jump. I was straining to hear if any of them were going to ask about Mona. Mona was her adoption name. Those few minutes were torture. Finally it was our turn. We took her out for about an hour. She obviously had no leash training but seemed like a very happy girl. When we got back we asked about her history. Apparently she had been a stray. A lady had taken her in but had too many dogs already so brought her to the SPCA. I don’t think she was with the SPCA long before we adopted her.

Chili, January 2009

Before we knew it, she was in our truck and on the way to her new home. She seemed unsure but happy. I was so excited to get her home. Little did we know what was in store.

So, as you can see, a few things aligned together to make sure that Chili was ours. I’m thankful. I can’t imagine life without her. She was ‘meant to be’.