Rest in Peace sweet doggie Maple

Our family dog passed away yesterday. She is the first dog I ever had. I had no idea how much work it would be to raise a puppy and I had no idea I would be so sad when she left us. She started trembling and shaking the Friday before Christmas, She started shaking the Friday before Christmas. Of course no vet clinics were open, so we decided to wait and she how she was doing, she seemed to be getting better on Monday and she was still eating and drinking so I really thought she just must have the flu or something, plus we were down to one car and Christmas was on Wed. with parties and get togethers in between. I just hoped she would get better. She didn't want any of her presents on .christmas, but I think I was just in denial, thinking she wasn't getting worse. By Friday afternoon, she had really slowed down, was still trembling and had really slowed down on the eating and drinking. We took her to our vet neighbor Saturday morning and he gave us pain medicine and said that Maple had hurt her neck which is common for middle age dogs and that we needed to baby her a bit and keep her confined, but that she would heal in a couple weeks. I was so relieved. She took her medicine that Saturday and really seemed to be feeling better. But she wouldn't take it on Sunday, and then she stopped eating and drinking on Monday. I think I was still in denial plus I have no experience with dogs, and the van was in the shop all day Tuesday plus we have been trying to move, packing and cleaning, and we thought it was just because of her neck and she just needed to rest a lot. But yesterday, my husband looked at her and told me she wasn't responding and that it looked to him like she was dying. My daughter, the one who has pretty much taken the most care of Maple, and I ran her back over to the neighbor's because of course it was New Year's Day. It turned out she was dangerously dehydrated by that point. We tried to get her to the Animal Urgent care, but she died in my daughter's arms on the way. I was never a dog person, but I liked the idea of having a dog from all the dog and animal stories I read to my kids. My daughter always wanted a dog and we finally caved when #5 was a baby. She was kind of like our 6th child. We got her in a time of happiness and contentment. She was a lot more work than I anticipated, it took about 6 months to fully house train her. But she was super cute and we all loved her and had some really fun times playing with her. She was never able to learn more tricks than sit and stay, and she hardly ever came when we called. She also loved to chase cars and it is a miracle she didn't get hit those first couple years. We always gentle with the kids. She only nipped if they were really bugging her. She was always in the middle of everything. If there was something interesting going on, she was there. She loved to chase the chickens and really seemed to have found her calling of getting the chickens out of the neighbor's yard. She never tried to bite the chickens or hurt them, just chase them. She never went far from us, she never ran away and she loved to go for walks. She would often find her leash and bring it to someone to take her for a walk. She was just always there and she was our true friend even when we were short with her or she would pee or poo in the house, she loved us. We just got used to having her around and her boundless energy. When I had the twins, I had to teach her to stay out of my room so I could nurse them and just have some quiet time. She learned and she really bonded with #1. #1 really needed her when her best friend moved and then as I began to realize the sorry things happening in our ward. Maple never complained about anything. Over the year we were in transition of moving here, we had to leave her in her kennel for hours while we drive down here for activities and church. She learned to just go there whenever we left and she was of course super happy to see us whenever we came back. Once we finally moved, she really started to hang out with me a lot more especially in the kitchen with the baby dropping food all the time. She would follow me wherever I went and she was never far away. I only didn't allow her in my room. She would usually go find a kid or wait by my door. She would come running whenever her name was called. I didn't realize how much she meant to me and to the kids until we had to decide whether or not to take her on our big move. When it came down to it, we had to take her. I was really looking forward to having her on our trip and to have her in our new home where we will essentially know no one. She loved us, we loved her, and she was my friend. If anyone can teach unconditional love, it is a dog. They are not perfect, they cause chaos and havoc in our lives, but they love us unconditionally and they never judge, even when I was short with Maple or punished her for pooing in the house, she loved me. I wish we could have saved her, we think there must have been more going on than just her neck, she probably ate too many raisins and maybe found some chocolate or licorice or both somewhere. She had started to develop a taste for human food and definitely preferred it over her dog food. I wish she hadn't gotten sick or that we had been able to help her recover. We did the best we knew and the best we could under the circumstances, but that doesn't seem to ease the pain much. I'm glad we got to have her. She was only about 6 yrs. old. She had finally started to slow down a bit and I was looking forward to having a calmer dog for 5 or 6 more years to come. She was gentle and tough. She never complained through her whole sickness, she was just glad to be with us. I will always love her. She was my first dog. And I will miss her terribly for a long time I think. Thank you Maple, my friend, rest in peace, rest in peace.

Love Heals

I have recently started a lecture series from the Teaching Company called The Science of Natural Healing. I really like it so far, it is taught by a cardiologist at the Scripp's Center for Cardiology. She has so year talked about what integrative and holistic medicine mean, that it is not alternative, not using any western medicine, but instead it is more of a bridge integrating Ayrvedic and Chinese medicines as well as herbalogy and homeopathy and other healing models. She has said a ton of really good things I don't have time to recap here, but in explaining her change from being a regular doctor, making a diagnosis and prescribing a drug to treat the symptom, she now sees herself more as a healer who wants to take a look at the whole person. She sakes questions and learns not only about their physical state but also their emotional, mental and spiritual states. She said that when she approaches her patients with love and acceptance instead of from a place of judgment, true healing can happen. She takes the people from wherever they are and goes from there. The person's sense of community is also very important to overall health and peace of mind. I am really enjoying this course so far, I've only gotten through 4 lectures. It feels so good to do this sort of thing again! I just listen while I pack, it's working out pretty well. I love learning! Here's the link: (blogger is acting up like crazy on my ipad, no paragraphs, won't let me put the cursor where I want, I like blogging from my ipad cause it's easy, I may be moving to Wordpress soon, sorry about the link, it is from the the teaching company. Wwwe.teach12.com