It's been a pretty rough winter here this year....we have had to say goodbye to too many of our farm friends. The latest is our little old Sparkie girl. She was old and just went to sleep. We got her about 12 years ago as a mature dog (don't really know her age), was only supposed to foster her until a permanent home could be found. She had been found far out in the wilderness by a cross country skier, in the middle of the winter. Just dropped and deserted, poor little thing would have died that night as the temps dropped to - 33 C. The lady who found her brought her to us at the Vet Clinic because we were housing the County Pound at the time. Poor little dog totally freaked out when we went to put her in a kennel so I volunteered to foster her at home. Well, as you see she never did go anywhere else! That was decided within 5 minutes of her arrival at the farm when everyone totally fell in love. Once the legal claiming period was over, we had her spayed and vaccinated etc. Sparks was always the most happy and loyal dog imaginable. Although small, she was game for anything especially trying to keep up to the greyhound X's! She loved nothing better than going for long horseback rides, never had trouble keeping up until the past couple of years when age and arthritis took over. So, we often would carry her in front of us on the saddle which was just fine with her. The only time she missed accompanying me feeding the horses was when I wouldn't let her come due to it being too cold. She was never very happy about that! She even eventually got over being afraid to ride in a vehicle and often rode with me on the quad doing farm chores. Spring was always an exciting time for her - almost never missed checking the mares with me and she adored the foals. It is rather lonely here the past few days without my chum, still look for her to come toddling up the hill to the hay yard but I will adapt eventually. Our puppy, Buster, is really helping fill the empty spot and he is a total sweetheart. So, goodbye my dear little friend and I hope you are having fun in doggy heaven with Ice, Shadow, Betsy, Pluto and Maddie.
