“My Girl” (Maggie 2005 – 2021)

“I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day

When it’s cold outside

I’ve got the month of May

I’d guess you’d say

What can make me feel this way

My girl, talkin’ about my girl”

The Temptations

This is the song I would sing to Maggie every day. As I am writing this, the tears are coming down. I got Maggie at an adoption day at the local PetSmart in NY. The North Shore Animal League on Long Island had brought dogs up to Westchester for adoption. I went there with a friend, purposely to adopt a dog. She was one of two sisters, puppies brought from a kill shelter in Tennessee. They say not to go for the puppy who is lethargic, but that is precisely why I picked her. I later found out that she was spade two days prior to the adoption and that is why she was lethargic. She was 10 weeks old.

I named her Maggie Mae, surprise, after a Beatle song. She was part border collie and part lab, although I saw no lab in her. Another name for her was my “devil dog.” She had such high energy, smart and sooo friendly! She loved everyone she met, even other dogs. She loved to play and run, run, run! When her cousin dogs visited, she would leave them in the dirt. She was a great traveler, went with us back and forth up and down the East coast. When kids were running around she would herd them!

I have had a few dogs, but none from puppies until their old age except for her. My husband is still away and I thank God my family was here to help me deal with making the horrible decision to have her put to sleep. As you know from previous posts, she had been going downhill. My daughter came last Saturday and was amazing helping me take care and clean up after Maggie during her final days.

Last Friday, the 26th of February, she was unable to get up, not eating, and and suffering. We looked up nearby services that would come to our home to do the deed. We ended up going with Loving Kindness Veterinary Care. A woman, Alex, came to the house and was very compassionate and gentle and let me take my time saying goodbye to my girl. How very devastating. I couldn’t believe we had come to this point. She took her away, we had decided on a private cremation with her ashes sent back in a carved wooden box.

This is one of many many pics of Maggie. Here she is enjoying the snow in VA