Winnie

It has definitely been awhile since I last posted and I have several posts floating around in my head that I will happen between now and next friday when I leave for Young Life's Frontier Ranch in Buena Vista, Colorado. So excited...

Unfortunately, I found out late last Sunday night that my dog, Winnie, died. She was 12 years old and deteriorating fast and my dad says she died peacefully. We all knew she was on the downward swing but we just kept hoping she would hang in there a little while longer.

I can still remember the day we got her. We were all at my Uncle Mark and Aunt Cindy's house outside of Comfort, TX. We were having a typical family gathering. Can't remember why but we ended up going to a bedroom closet to "look at something." When the door opened

there was Winnie, a tiny black Scottish terrier puppy with a gigantic red ribbon tied around her neck looking so cute and scared. We all freaked out with excitement of course. My siblings and I thought there would be no way we were getting a dog. But we got her.

That was January of 1998. In the 12 years as part of our family Winnie did more things and traveled to more places than most dog that I know. Our family owned a travel trailer and we used to spend the summers hauling it around the country, Winnie in tow. Those trips were

so fun. We used to argue about where she would sit in the car and who would get to cuddle with her in their sleeping back on frigid summer Colorado nights. She loved traveling and being outdoors. She even climbed with us to the top of the Continental Divide one summer in Colorado. I was 12:

She was also super feisty and very protective. There were not many people outside of our family that she really liked. Although she never really hurt people too bad, her bark scared scared so many people. I do remember one time when we were on our way to go skiing at Crested Butte, CO and she bit a chunk out of my brother, Ryan's lip. He had squeezed her a little too tight and she turned around and popped him good. We all laughed at him but Ryan wouldn't go near her for awhile.

Her favorite game to play was to pretend like she was going to rip your feet to shreds. Fun sounding I know. But seriously, if you walked up to her and shuffled your feet in her face she would start snarling and fake biting your feet. I played that game with her so many times and never once did she try to actually bite me. It was to coolest game to play with her and other people always thought we were crazy.

We always kept her hair very short unlike most Scottish Terriers because she would get too dirty. And by short I mean real short, she looked like this a lot:

I don't have any pics of it but she went through a "fat phase." My grandpa, Pappy, used to call her a hog all the time. It was super funny to listen to my mom get mad at him for it.

One house we lived at about 8 miles out of town didn't have any fenced in area so we always had to watch her when she went outside. Well, occasionally we would forget about her and she would run off. Usually not very far but one time she was gone for a whole day before she somehow ended back up at our house.

This picture was taken 6 months ago when I was home in November or at Christmas. Don't remember exactly:

You might be wondering who the white dog is. Well, that is Izzy, our West Highland Terrier. We got her when I turned 16. Nope, not a birthday present, just happened to be the weekend of my birthday. She is super fun and very hyper. Winnie absolutely hated her when we got her because she was so full of energy and wanted to play all day long. But they warmed up to each other. This was a typical pose for these two. Anytime my mom was in the kitchen they would sit and stare at her trying to use their mind powers to make her drop food. My mother was the only one who was ever allowed to "officially" feed them special treats. But we used to sneak them food under table, especially John.

My dad says Izzy is really confused as to why Winnie is not around anymore. It is really hard to believe she is actually gone. I knew that she would be going soon, but I did not expect it to happen 1 week after I went to Texas.

She was an awesome dog and I'm real happy she was part of our family.

My dad buried her under a tree at our ranch outside of Boerne, TX under a gigantic tree that he says looks like it has outstretched arms.

So many stories with her.

I will miss hearing her paws scrambling across the wood floors to greet me when I come home

I will miss shoving her in the bottom of my sleeping bag.

I will miss giving her baths

I will miss picking up her poop on vacations

I will miss her horrible breath

I will miss her sleeping next to me on long car rides

I will miss sleeping with her on the couch

So here's a goodbye for now. Thanks for all the good times Winnie!