TRUE GRIT

Whenever I think of our stray, Trixie, I think of John Wayne riding into battle with the reins in his mouth and both guns blazing. She was a John Wayne kind of character.

We live on a dead-end gravel road where, all too often, irresponsible people drop off their unwanted animals. What do they think these animals are going to do? How will they survive? There is not a pet cat or dog that is able to forage for enough food to keep them alive. If it doesn't show up in a bowl, they will simply starve to death. Starvation is a nasty way to die. It infuriates me to think about those people for too long. But it gives me encouragement and inspiration to think of Trixie.

She came to us one day with a companion dog. He was timid and scared, unwilling to stay with us. We put them in a stall in our barn (we weren't sure about their health, temperaments, etc.) He had broken out and was gone in the morning. Trixie, on the other hand, was waiting for me. She was pretty sure this was going to be her best deal.

It was no time until she moved into our home and into our lives. She was plucky. She found her place in the "pack" and in our hearts. She accompanied me everywhere. Her favorite was walking down to the bus stop with the kids in the morning before school. She was friendly, happy and cocky.

It was over a year later that she began falling down. It was random at first, but after the vet took a look at her, he determined that she had a chronic spinal condition. It was creeping up her spine and eventually caused her hind end to become paralyzed. She couldn't walk. For a while, I carried her inside and outside, but realized it was hard on her to not be mobile. I was determined to find some way to improve her life.

Then I found a "wheel-chair" of a kind for dogs. I work with special needs people and have seen many kinds of devices that help them to move around. This was, however, the first time I had seen one for a dog. I ordered it and with much difficulty, fit it to her.

At first, she did not like it at all. I felt like I had made an awful mistake. In a few minutes, however, she got the hang of it. She became mobile- VERY mobile! She went everywhere again. I rescued her 3 times from trying to go swimming in the pond. One day, a neighbor dog stopped by. He outweighed her by at least 15-20 pounds and was a good 5 inches taller than she. But she decided that he was not welcome at our house. She lunged at him growling and snarling. One quick move on his part sent her reeling. I picked her up and she lit into him AGAIN! I encouraged him to go away (for Trixie's own good!).

Eventually, the spinal condition rendered her unable to use her wheelchair. We kept her as long as her plucky spirit and self-esteem could take it. One day, however, I knew it was time. She was okay with it, I believe. I have to believe it. She had become depressed not to be able to live the way she had been.

We only had a few years with her, but they were years learning how she managed her disability. She knew no limitations, but much joy in the extra years she acquired by coming to our house. She was an example of "every day is a gift." I have had the philosophical debate with others who decry the time, effort and money spent on just one animal. "Why not take that same money and save 10 others?" they ask. But I ask, who decides who is worthy and who is not? She was the one who searched me out. Her spirit inspired me and taught me an important lesson of acceptance of what is without allowing that to limit her.

She really is a beautiful testament of life worth living.