the world of gayeA PIECE OF MY HEART
July 16th 2009 02:17
My friend Ros and I settled down to watch Marley and Me on Sunday night. At first I thought the story was following the unfolding lives of a family, and even though it started off a bit slow the dog won me over. I soon realised it wasn't really about the people but more about the dog and what he brought to thier lives. I am afraid I had to leave the room at the end because I guessed what was coming and I such a sook I couldn't bear it.
This movie brought back the wonderful memories of the best friend I ever had....my Sheba. This is my Marley and Me story.
One Saturday morning I took my boy Evan and myself off to the local markets and as we walked around the stalls I noticed a lady sitting on the ground with a box full of skinny black puppies. Evan and I stopped to pat them, and he didn't have to beg me for a pup because I had picked one of them up and fallen in love before he could get a word out. We took this skinny little dog with a scrawny neck home and named her Sheba, and what a dog she turned out to be. Sheba wasn't one of those pups who eat everything in sight but I did have one episode I remember well. I had a big lovely Queen Anne bed and Sheba slept on the end of it every night at my feet. I awoke one morning and found the end of the bed half eaten and splinters in Shebas mouth. She seemed to know it was the wrong thing to do and never ate another bed !!
There were never any toilet incidents with her, I can't remember ever having to clean up any mess. Evan made more mess than Sheba did. We came home one afternoon and found that Sheba had figured out somehow to climb on the barbecue and jump to the garage roof, and from there it was just a little hop on to the roof of the house. She loved to sit up there and watch the traffic go by and the neighbors were quite amused by the dog on the roof.
As the years went by she grew into a faithfull and loyal friend. I suffered from migraines and once spent three days in bed with one. That dog never left my side for those three days, she knew I was sick and watched over me. There was one December when I had worked a double shift and was so exhausted I just collapsed into bed and died. About two in the morning I awoke to find my hand in Shebas mouth and she was shaking it to get my attention. I was so tired I yelled at her to lay down and be quiet, but she persisted shaking my hand so I turned over and put my hands under the blankets where she couldn't see them. When I got up the next morning and walked into the loungeroom I realised we had been robbed, everything was gone.
Whenever she woke me up in the middle of the night after that I let her lead me to whatever she wanted me to see. One night she led me to the linen closet and when I opened it there was the cat giving birth to a litter of kittens.
Sheba loved kittens. Whenever the cat gave birth Sheba thought it was her job to flea them and curl up with them to keep them warm. Children were always safe with her, she would protect them from danger and if they hurt her (as children will do) she would grab thier little hands and just hold them until they sat still. Because she was a kelpie (an australian working dog) she also loved to be let loose in the paddock near us and round other animals up. I didn't teach her how to round animals up, she just knew how to do it. There was a time when our other beloved dog got out and we could not catch him, so I told Sheba "go and get Blocker" and sure enough she did. She came down the road walking circles around Blocker so he couldn't run away again and returned him to us.
An amazing dog.
Sheba was a mother many times over and we just adored her babies, having them around was a joy and I wish now I would have kept one, then I would still have a little bit of Sheba with me.
Sheba was never ill but when she was about 10 years of age I found a lump in her chest. I took her to the vet's and was stunned when he told me she had breast cancer. You never think of dog's having breast cancer but they are like us in many ways. So I asked the vet to operate on her and see if maybe we had caught it early. Luckily the vet said he thought it wasn't to bad and she should live for a few years yet. But two years later the cancer came back. Back to the vets we went and he softly told me there was not much he could do. I took her home and she wasn't in any pain and still full of energy. But as the months went by I noticed the spark going from her eyes and she was starting to get shaky on her legs. The time came when I knew the end was near and so we took our final trip to the vets. I picked her up and placed her on his table and the vet asked me if I wanted to stay while he put her to sleep but I just couldn't. He left us alone so I could say goodbye and my heart was breaking as I looked at my beautiful girl. And do you know what she did? Sheba stood up, bowed her lovely head and pressed it into the middle of my chest........right over my heart. She sayed that way for a while, it was as if she knew, and she was trying to make me feel better because I was sobbing. I swear I will NEVER forget that moment. Sheba lays under the lemon tree in the backyard and when I hang the washng out, I look over and say hello to her sometimes. My sister painted a lovely painting of her and it hangs in my room so I never forget the gift that she was to me.
This movie brought back the wonderful memories of the best friend I ever had....my Sheba. This is my Marley and Me story.
One Saturday morning I took my boy Evan and myself off to the local markets and as we walked around the stalls I noticed a lady sitting on the ground with a box full of skinny black puppies. Evan and I stopped to pat them, and he didn't have to beg me for a pup because I had picked one of them up and fallen in love before he could get a word out. We took this skinny little dog with a scrawny neck home and named her Sheba, and what a dog she turned out to be. Sheba wasn't one of those pups who eat everything in sight but I did have one episode I remember well. I had a big lovely Queen Anne bed and Sheba slept on the end of it every night at my feet. I awoke one morning and found the end of the bed half eaten and splinters in Shebas mouth. She seemed to know it was the wrong thing to do and never ate another bed !!
Whenever she woke me up in the middle of the night after that I let her lead me to whatever she wanted me to see. One night she led me to the linen closet and when I opened it there was the cat giving birth to a litter of kittens.
Sheba loved kittens. Whenever the cat gave birth Sheba thought it was her job to flea them and curl up with them to keep them warm. Children were always safe with her, she would protect them from danger and if they hurt her (as children will do) she would grab thier little hands and just hold them until they sat still. Because she was a kelpie (an australian working dog) she also loved to be let loose in the paddock near us and round other animals up. I didn't teach her how to round animals up, she just knew how to do it. There was a time when our other beloved dog got out and we could not catch him, so I told Sheba "go and get Blocker" and sure enough she did. She came down the road walking circles around Blocker so he couldn't run away again and returned him to us.
An amazing dog.
Sheba was a mother many times over and we just adored her babies, having them around was a joy and I wish now I would have kept one, then I would still have a little bit of Sheba with me.
Sheba was never ill but when she was about 10 years of age I found a lump in her chest. I took her to the vet's and was stunned when he told me she had breast cancer. You never think of dog's having breast cancer but they are like us in many ways. So I asked the vet to operate on her and see if maybe we had caught it early. Luckily the vet said he thought it wasn't to bad and she should live for a few years yet. But two years later the cancer came back. Back to the vets we went and he softly told me there was not much he could do. I took her home and she wasn't in any pain and still full of energy. But as the months went by I noticed the spark going from her eyes and she was starting to get shaky on her legs. The time came when I knew the end was near and so we took our final trip to the vets. I picked her up and placed her on his table and the vet asked me if I wanted to stay while he put her to sleep but I just couldn't. He left us alone so I could say goodbye and my heart was breaking as I looked at my beautiful girl. And do you know what she did? Sheba stood up, bowed her lovely head and pressed it into the middle of my chest........right over my heart. She sayed that way for a while, it was as if she knew, and she was trying to make me feel better because I was sobbing. I swear I will NEVER forget that moment. Sheba lays under the lemon tree in the backyard and when I hang the washng out, I look over and say hello to her sometimes. My sister painted a lovely painting of her and it hangs in my room so I never forget the gift that she was to me.
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