Living in The Livable Forest: bye, bye Belle

It's a bitter sweet day at the Glazebrook house. On a good note, the backyard is done after having it be dirt for almost a year and a half. It looks great (those pictures will be in the next post). The bad news is that Michael just left to go have Belle (our 6 year old black dog) put to sleep. The past two days have been really hard. It started when we cut her claw too low and she didn't even yelp. We realized that she doesn't notify us when she's in pain. She doesn't cry or whimper, she just takes it without letting it show. Yesterday after we took her outside in the morning she sat down and could barely make it back into the house. I realized that she wasn't moving her back legs. In order to get to her dog water, she would have to drag her lower body with her front legs (never being able to stand up on her back legs). It was just so sad to see her this way. She would try to stand up and walk, but she just couldn't. She has hip problems, is extremely overweight (when we try to get her to lose weight Cayman is the one who starves and she is not overweight), and she has stick legs that just weren't made to fit a body like hers. So, we had decided to wait it out and when I got back from carpool Michael knew that it was time to put her out of her misery. It just wouldn't be fair to Belle for us to keep her in pain to make us feel better.

The Story of Belle: We got Belle when I was newly pregnant with Madelyn in mid 2003. We got her from the Cobb County Animal Shelter. She was a cute little black lab looking puppy and Michael warned me that she was going to end up fat with little legs. I fell in love with that puppy and Michael went and got her. He brought her by work at Pacesetter and I got to see her for a minute. Then, she threw up on the way home. When Cayman first met Belle, she was foaming at the mouth. Cayman was a year and a half at that point and very unsure of this new puppy. They ended up being fast friends. Belle was definitely the alfa dog. She was always the first one outside and she would push Cayman out of the way in order to get out first. Belle taught Cayman to dig. This ended up being a nightmare for us in our GA house. Cayman was already an escape artist and this gave her new and exciting ways to roam the town. Belle was the sloppiest drinker I have ever seen. She could get water across the room just by trying to get a simple drink from her bowl. Belle always had problems with her hips. Even as a puppy she had a hard time jumping up on things. I remember my Mom saying how odd it was that she had such a hard time climbing up on the couch. Belle was a Heinz 57 dog. She has to have rottweiler in her. She has a blue tongue like a chow and she blows her coat like a chow. She still looks like a lab sometimes too. Who knows what she truly is. Belle was very loyal. When Cayman and Belle did get out, they always stayed together. When Cayman got hit by the train and was laying bleeding on the doorstep of the fabricating business down the road, Belle stayed there too. When Cayman got bit on the nose by a big rat, Belle killed that rat in about 2 seconds (literally). Belle was my saving grace when Michael was in Iraq. We had an infestation of rats and mice when he left and I hate vermin. Belle killed countless rats and mice before they could get in our house. Anytime I would see her throwing something up in the air, I knew it was a rat. She was a great hunter (even with being overweight). She was our sweet dog. Cayman has always been so hyper and Belle has been the one who is calm and doesn't jump. Belly is our sweet dog and we love her very much. It's really sad to have to say goodbye. We'll miss her a lot, but we know she will be in a better place and we will see her again (thanks to Joseph Smith for that reassurance). Goodbye my sweet Belle.