Bye-Bye Jessie

Jessie died in May. We had her euthanized because she had massive lipomas intertwined with her muscles in her right back leg. Lipomas are usually operable and benign, but the only way to relieve Jessie's pain would have been to amputate her leg. Not happening. No sweet 13-year-old golden should go through that.

And she was very sweet. I miss her more than any other dog I've had, except for Buddy, my first golden, who was my heart.

Jessie was my bright star, a wobbly, goofy girl who liked to run and play as much as she could. As I wrote in my first post about her, she came to me at 12, weighing 119 pounds. A female golden retriever should weigh about 70 pounds. But Jessie was no couch potato; I think she'd been a bit neglected near the end of her first owner's life. I also think that something in her stomach (which we had to have surgically removed) had been rolling around in there for some time (and then connected to a cloth toy she ate), making her try to eat anything to get her tummy to feel better. By the time this picture was taken, she was down to 72 pounds.

I have cried a lot over losing Jessie. One would think that just having her for a little over a year wouldn't cause such an attachment, but I have found that time is not a factor. Time is not a factor on how one bonds with another being nor in how one stops grieving her. I still cry once in a while, and poor Jasper, our husky, gets a lot of my tears and lots more hugs than he might actually like (huskies aren't the most cuddly of dogs).

So, bye-bye Jessie. You'll be missed forever.