Letting go....

Today I said goodbye to an old and dear friend. My sweet pup, Pip, has passed on from this world into the next. She had been battling a combination things for awhile. We knew it was coming, in fact we had to make the agonizing choice to let her go- so mentally I was prepared, but apparently your heart can never be ready to let go of something you love.
When we answered an ad for Cattle Dog puppies for sale 12 years ago, I didn't know much about the breed. I'd read that they were athletic and smart, but that turned out to be the understatement of the century. Pip was not only built tough, but she had such a drive to be a winner that she would outrun, out swim and out jump any dog she came across. We would get to together with our friends for doggie play dates and 40 lb. Pip would hold her own against the 90lb. Golden Retrievers. If she wasn't the "winner" at their games of fetch she would be mad. She was obsessed with frisbee to the point that we had to put the frisbee up high at the end of the game so that she couldn't reach it. She would sit staring at the frisbee whining, wishing we would continue to throw it. Later in life she developed arthritis, the vet said she saw that a lot in Cattle Dogs because they play so hard that they wear their joints out.
Pip was a fearsome competitor at the dog park, but she was also extremely intelligent. She knew all of her basic commands, plus things like "Pick it up!" and "Go in the girls room and find your ball." She learned to balance a biscuit on her nose and hold it there until given the command to toss it in the air and catch it. I think she found that little trick demeaning, but did it to please us.
She was a trouble maker and loved to eat people food. Once I found fur and paw prints on the kitchen counter. After some detective work I realized she had jumped up on a chair, to a bar stool and then walked across the counter to get to some treat. I couldn't even be mad because it was so well thought out.
A man rushed up to me once while I was out with Pip and asked to pet her. He was so excited and proceeded to tell me about the Cattle Dog he'd once shared his home with. He said it was the best dog he'd ever had and talked about how he missed her. I know how he feels.