Daisy Hill

warning....this post is VERY LONG.

Daisy. Daisy was my first dog. I still remember the first day we got her. Matt and I were engaged and it was a couple months before our wedding. We were out running errands and of course ended up at Target. Well, the Target in Holland is directly next to a Petco and guess what was going on that day at Petco? ADOPTION DAY. So we went over and started looking and playing with the puppies and I was not planning on purchasing a dog at all. Well then we came to some puppies that were Beagle/Boxer mixes. I think there were 4 of them. But only one stood out. She was white and had black spots on her with a pretty brown face. She was the only one of her siblings that looked like that. She was so darn cute. Matt and I met her and instantly fell in love but I still didn't want a dog. It wasn't until another family started petting her that I realized, I want her. So we bought her. Just like that, well, actually I bought her because Matt said she would make the perfect wedding gift. I remember I told Matt that if I buy her I get to name her, Daisy , who doesn't love "daisy hills?"
If truth be told, I never knew I was even an animal person and at first I was a little scared of this ankle biting puppy. She had this bad habit of every time you walked she would try to nibble at your legs. She also had a thing for Matt's nipples. He would sleep with his shirt off and she would bite his nipples (maybe she thought it was food). It made us both laugh. Once Matt and I got married I got to spend a ton of time with Daisy. I was in school full time but we were married in the summer so I had the rest of the summer to enjoy time with her. One thing I didn't realize was just how NAUGHTY puppies are. I think she chewed on everything. Luckily we were newlyweds so we didn't really own anything nice. I really enjoyed having her around especially while Matt worked during the day. She was with me when I made my first "home-cooked" meal for my new husband and probably sat under the table begging for scraps.

We lived in an apartment for about a year and then got the itch to buy a house. I remember having a fenced in back yard for our dog was something we really wanted. And guess who has a fenced in backyard? Yes, we do. Shortly after we bought our house Matt somehow convinced me we should get another dog so Daisy would have a playmate. I didn't think we would have kids anytime soon so I agreed to go to the Humane Society and "look". I wanted to adopt if possible because so many pets need homes. We went and looked at a few and found a bunch of Pointer/Boarder Collie mixes and thought that we had a sister for Daisy. We made it official after we brought Daisy to meet the dog and they got along. So we now had two dogs and I got to name the second one too, Wrigley.

I think a couple months later I found out I was pregnant.

And in May we welcomed Jackson to the family. Both of the dogs loved him and felt the need to protect him. It was cute. They were both always very gentle, especially Daisy.
Then Jackson got sick and we were out of our home for 4 or so months. I never once came home during that time and I missed Daisy and Wrigley a lot. When it came time to come home from Chicago we had a lot of extra responsibility with Jackson. Matt's parents had to find another home for their cats because Jackson isn't supposed to be around them. We also decided it might be a good idea to find another home for one of the dogs and Wrigley has been living at the in-laws for 4 years now. We don't even have to miss her because we can walk down the street to see her. I remember how excited I was the day we were coming home from Chicago, for many reasons (we had been there for months) but I was so excited to see the dogs. Let me tell you, they both gave me the warmest welcome home I could have had. What a nice feeling to come home and be welcomed by your pets.

When the weather was nice Jackson, Daisy and I would go on walks. Our favorite place to walk is the Heinz Boardwalk by Kollen Park. It's less than a mile away so it's a perfect hour or so walk. When we added Addy to the family we just added a bigger stroller to our walks. Addy fell in love with Daisy right around the age of one or so. Every single day Addy would look for Daisy and run up to her and give her a huge hug and kiss as she got older. I said to Matt the other day that one of the first words that both of the kids said was "Daisy". They probably heard it often from Matt and I. It's funny to look through pictures and see her in the background of almost all of them. She was a big part of the kids lives.

Only July 15 I was folding clothes in our bedroom and thought the kids were playing in the family room. All the sudden I heard a growl (a sound I never heard before) so I ran to find out if someone was in the house. While I was going to see why Daisy growled I immediately heard Jackson start crying. When I got into the kitchen it appeared that Daisy had bit him on his cheek. I grabbed a towel and called my mother in law to drive us to the hospital. We got right in but had to wait for a plastic surgeon to do surgery at 4. Jackson was admitted to the hospital just so he could be on I.V. antibiotics (because of his immune system being so suppressed).

We called our vet asked what we had to do and they said we had to wait 10 days to make sure Daisy didn't have rabies and then we could put her down. Those 10 days were easily some of the hardest 10 days of my life. Besides the months we spent in Chicago with Jackson this was the hardest grown up thing I had to do. I have a very forgiving heart, unfortunately, so I was able to forgive and try and forget and I wanted SO BADLY to keep her. I begged Matt and he wanted so badly to keep her as well but this was one of those parenting decisions that just sucks a lot. After all Daisy was our first baby, but obviously in the end our children came first and we just couldn't risk anything else. Matt and I both believed it never would have happened again but if it did, that would be on us as parents and we couldn't have that, it just wasn't the responsible thing to do. On Monday July 26 we got in the car and took Daisy to the vet. Matt and I sobbed the whole way there, while we were there we could barely talk, and the whole way home. The vet did tell us we were making the right decision but it doesn't make it easier. We said our goodbyes and I love yous and headed home heartbroken.

There's something about your first dog. Daisy was my first and I am starting to think she will be my only. She has been the constant companion in Matt and my life for our entire marriage. If Matt was gone and the kids were in bed I always had Daisy. Now I don't. When the kids napped Daisy would be snoring on the floor while I did chores or enjoyed a snooze myself. I miss that a lot. It sounds so quiet during nap time now. Too quiet. I miss letting her out, feeding her, when the kids dropped food she would take care of it, when I filled my water cup (a million times a day) I always spill ice and she would be there to get it. I just really miss all the daily stuff you do with a dog. I find myself looking down a lot to find her or looking in the spots where she spent most of her time only not to find her there. I miss hearing her collar first thing in the morning while she would wake up and shake. I think that's the sound I miss the most because every morning I am reminded that she's not here. There's something about working the hours I do that makes having a dog nice. I usually start around 5 and get home anytime between 9:30 and 11. On the weekends even later. Most of the time my entire family would be snoozing already but Daisy would always come and great me at the door. It might have had something to do with the porterhouse bones I saved occasionally for her but I know she liked to welcome me home. It was a nice comfort for me to know someone had "waited up" for me. I miss her a lot. I miss how much the kids loved on her and how much she loved on the kids. I even miss her dog smell.

The kids keep asking about Daisy every single day. We told her she went bye bye and hopefully some day they stop asking, it makes it harder. I know dogs that bite kids aren't "good dogs" but she really was. I am pretty sure the kids did something to her ( I wish I was in the room to stop it or see it) but it doesn't mean what she did was right. She had one BAD DAY and unfortunately we couldn't forget that. I will always hold a special place in my heart for my first dog. I loved her a lot more than I thought I could love a pet, that's for sure. She really loved us too. It's nice to have that unconditional love from a pet. I love you Daisy or Bubbas Girl.

Anyways...just felt like this was very HUGE thing in our lives to blog about for our blog book.

Steph