Another one left for Rainbow Bridge

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  • dmc_emmy
    dmc_emmy Member Posts: 549
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    I am so sorry and I know you
    I am so sorry and I know you will miss him. I wish our furry friends lived longer. He sounds like a special dog.

    We got Elfin "on sale"---but some would say we bought him...
    on clearance.

    When my daughter was 13 years-old, she wanted a dog of her own. We had a guide dog for my hubby who is blind, and she had hamsters and guinea pigs, but she wanted her very own dog. I agreed, but under the guidelines that Michael (the guide dog) had to accept it, that the dog she wanted was not a hunter of small animals, it had to get along with other animals, could not be hyper or yappy, and had to like people in general. The price had to right, too. Jessica researched dogs on the Internet as well as a wide selection of dog books and decided that all she wanted was a black and white Japanese Chin. This little dog was classified as an "exotic" breed, so all I saw were many dollar signs. I told her that I would most likely not be able to afford this breed.

    Months later, Jessica found an old ad advertised one remaining dog from a litter. Even though I told her that it was unlikely that there were any dogs left she called anyway. A big smile came across her face and all I could think to ask was, "How much?" She never asked and told me when she got off the phone, "The lady said that could discuss it when we got there." That didn't sound good to me, but we went out there anyway with hubby and Michael in tow.

    Michael thought it was a guinea pig and high-stepped it backwards because a guinea pig had bitten his ear a week prior and he was afraid of repeat since this little dog was about the size of large guinea pig. The dog in the pen next to it was already sold, $8,0000 (yes, that's 3 zeros). The breeder told me that the other one was much less and asked me to state a price. I said, "$250.00." "Sold." Red flags should have been going up all over the place!

    Well, as I said, we got little Elfin Chin on sale. After only 6 months, I understood why. The medical bills started coming in fast and furious and he was untrainable to boot. The trainers kicked him out of puppy class (even though we enrolled him at one year) and in the pre-puppy class we were told that we were wasting our money. At 9 years of age, he was still not house-broken and our the carpet throughout out home is proof of that challenge.

    Yes, Elfin Chin was special in more ways than one and he will be sorely missed. Sadly, we know that Michael is not far behind him as he has not been well for awhile and will soon be 12 years-old.

    On a positive note, Elfin was a good dancer and was so silly that he always made us laugh (we could never be angry with him for along). I am sure that the other animals on Rainbow Bridge are enjoying his antics as much as we did here. I posted a couple of pix of the little guy on my expression's page and will try to add more.

    Thanks for all your supportive posts. I will have my daughter read them all.
    dmc