Mulder 1993-2008

Um, yeah, I'm done with 2008. We've decided we want to begin our new year tomorrow. Anyone want to join us? Poor little Mulder. We euthanized her on Thursday evening. Of S.'s three dogs (incredibly, he lost three dogs in the space of seven months, two in the space of a week), Mulder was the hardest for me. For a couple reasons: 1. I have so much guilt about complaining about her all the time, and 2. She was the one we had to actually make a decision about. We could have kept her around for a few more weeks, maybe even a month. But she wouldn't eat. And when a beagle doesn't eat, you know she's not happy. Especially Mulder.

We were both with her when she passed, holding her and stroking her and crying. As Becky said to me recently, she was a pain in the ass, but a loved pain in the ass. We told her how much we loved her and to tell her sisters how much we love them and that she'd no longer be in pain. And she could eat as much as she wanted at the big buffet in the sky. And eating would be fun again.

At Christmastime, S.'s work had a Humane Society tree where people would put up pics and give brief descriptions of their dogs. S. wrote about Mulder's favorite things to do: 1) eat. 2) eat. 3) eat. 4) eat. He forgot to mention how much she loved going for walks with her sisters. She had quite the little waddle.

Last Christmas Eve, we went downstairs to fill up the dogs’ stockings. When Mulder saw us put treats in the stockings, she stayed on the couch downstairs barking for well over an hour. We went out to pick up Chinese food and then across the street to visit our neighbors, and she was still barking when we got back. Finally, the barking stopped. I went downstairs to check on her, and she was asleep on the couch, having barked herself to sleep.

Rest in peace, little beagle. We loved you though we sometimes had a funny way of showing it. That we yelled at you will haunt us for a long time. That you remained a happy, happy girl in spite of our frustrations shows us what a gift you were.