In Memory of HUMMER

I have always had such a love for dogs and I have had my fair share. I have loved them all, but none as much as I loved HUMMER! As you may recall in a previous post the ordeal I went through just to finally get Hummer to me from Colorado. Right after Christmas, on December 28, to be exact, was my first glimpse of the dog that I fell immediately head-over-hills in love with. His beauty and intelligence was overwhelming. He was so breath-taking to look at.
I went through another ordeal as some of you know in early March when I was trying to get things closed on the sell of one house and the purchase of my new house. A long story short, the circumstances allowed me to move into my new house before the actual closing, for what I thought would only be for a matter of one or two days. Then other things happened ... and happened... and happened...and it turned out that I did not close for 10 or more days. You can imagine the stress and emotions of all parties involved in the closing of several houses...You know ... the closing of my original house had to take place before the closing on my new house. The closing on my new house had to take place before the people moving out could close on their new house and it goes on and on and on. Anyway, I thought I would be closed and enjoying my new house before my week of Spring Break, but as it turned out the entire week of Spring Break I was stressed to the max.

I left my dogs, Alley, Hummer, and Lexus at my old house for most of that time because it provided them at least a large fenced in back yard and they were accustomed to that. Jonathan and I went to the Tractor Supply store and I purchased two 10x10x6 kennels and we put them up at the new house in preparation for making the move with the dogs. Finally, on Thursday of my Spring Break I decided to go ahead and move the dogs because I would be closing on the house on Friday. And that is what happened. It was a glorious couple of days as the dogs investigated their new home.

The next day, Hummer helped me mow the yard, staying close to me until the job was done. Then I played fetch with him for a while and I was amazed at how quickly and expertly he accomplished every new task I introduced to him. Then I just watched him as he romped through the pasture. I thought to myself how beautiful he was as he chased a butterfly here or tried to catch a grasshopper there. But what truly amazed me was the way he moved across the pasture...in a circular or side to side motion...as if he was trained to track something. But he was not trained...he was only 6 months old for Heaven's sake.

Friday evening I put Hummer and Lexus in the large kennel that Jonathan and I created by putting the two kennels together. We had had a wonderful day and I was pooped. The next morning I slept in later than usual and did not go out to check on the dogs until around 8:00. When I approached the kennel Lexus was excited to see me, but Hummer was still sleeping...
I thought... It only took me a split second to realize that Hummer was dead. I think I flipped out!!! My beautiful dog that I adored was dead... It was Saturday...my veterinarian office was closed...and I was having a melt down. It took me about an hour to locate my veterinarian, who very graciously met me at the clinic. He did an autopsy on Hummer and found him to be in superb health, but his stomach was twisted. Not an unusual occurance in large breeds, but why Hummer? I was devastated. I still have not gotten over all of that, but there is a happy ending to this very sad story.

It took me until the middle of the next week, but I finally got myself together enough to call and tell the people from whom I purchased Hummer. They were not home, so I left them what I could get out ... of the story. I decided that my message may be incomprehensible, so I followed up with an email of the story and that I would like to purchase another puppy in a few months. Within 15 minutes I received an email response. They were so very sorry about Hummer and would be more than happy to assist me when I felt I was ready to get another puppy. I thought that was very nice indeed. A couple of hours later I received a second email from them saying that when they said assist me, they wanted to make it clear to me that they wanted to replace Hummer at no charge to me... I just sat there and cried. These people don't even know me, yet they want to help me in such an ENORMOUSLY GENEROUS way.

They have kept in contact with me and have offered me one of their new male import puppies. They will post pictures and they will let me pick the one that I fall in love with. How GREAT is that!!! So after such a stressful ordeal with moving and losing Hummer...Good things do happen to ME, too!

GOD IS GREAT!!!