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Health & Fitness

Ode to Trixie

Faithful. Loving. Loyal. Those are the words that come to mind when I think of my beautiful and beloved German shepherd, Trixie.

The sad news came to me via email; this is one of the realities of life overseas. We were vacationing in Vietnam and I was without internet for 3 days while we were in Ha Long Bay. When we returned to the city of Hanoi, I checked my email. There it was. The unexpected and heartbreaking news that my Trixie-love developed a tumor in her heart and needed to be put to sleep.

Faithful. Loving. Loyal. Those are the words that come to mind when I think of my beautiful and beloved German shepherd, Trixie. Anyone who has lost a loving companion will understand the sadness and sense of loss I feel. I am heartbroken for many reasons. First, I loved her. She was the dog who slept next to me, was always watching me and always made me feel secure and protected. Second, I feel torn about my life decisions – namely to leave Trixie in the care of someone else – perhaps not holding up my end of my obligations to her. And finally, because the kind friends who took Trixie into their hearts and home were the ones make those final arrangements. I wanted their time with her to be easy and full of the fun parts of pet ownership.

I will backtrack now and tell the story of Trixie. She was a rescue dog who I spotted on a shelter website in East Peoria, IL. My parents live near there, so I asked my Dad to “check her out”; she was one year old at the time. He deemed her a fit for our new family dog. Anna, three years old at the time, and I drove the eight hours to IL over a weekend to meet her and adopt her. She was BIG (75 pounds) and a bit of a nervous dog. However, she quickly became the love of Anna’s life. My Dad reminded me today how Anna would hook up the leash and make Trixie be a captive audience for her shows.

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The following year we decided to pursue of dream of living and teaching overseas. Trixie, being a very big girl and still a bit nervous with strangers, opted to say put in the USA rather than heading off to Uzbekistan, where we had some concerns that she may be considered dinner. She bunked at my parent’s home in IL during the two school years we were gone. We visited during Christmas and she spent summers back in MN with us. She gained 10 pounds with her “Grandparents” and developed finer tastes like meat drippings on her dry dog food.

The next 5 years of her life were spent in MN – on our three acres and woods, with plenty of camping trips all over MN, the USA and Canada. She became our camper dog. She made trips to IL to see my parents. She faithfully guarded our home. She took numerous walks with my neighbor Becky and me. She swam in all five Great Lakes. She played with the neighbor’s dogs and was a good friend to two cats – Austin and Smokey.

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When we again decided to move overseas, this time to Beijing, we wanted to keep her a bit closer to her MN home. A colleague from work, Andrea, offered her home to Trixie. We spend the summer with Trixie spending a few weeks with Andrea and Darren, and then a few weeks with us – until she was comfortable in both homes. Then we left for Beijing.

Trixie had a wonderful year with Andrea and Darren – walks and car rides to see Andrea’s parents. Love all over for that dog! She also developed a new cat friend, Easter. When we arrived back in MN in June, Andrea and Darren brought Trixie out the first night and we celebrated being together. I always thought of us a co-parenting. ☺ Over the summer, we took Trixie camping and for walks and lots of yard time. I just read my travel journal about her swimming in Lake Superior in Grand Marais in June and in the St Croix in July. She felt a kinship with me and with Andrea, and would sleep right on the floor next to us when we would sleep. She was very protective of both of us.

Trixie moved back in with Andrea and Darren in early August as we headed back to Beijing for year two. It is always hard to leave, but Trixie had become comfortable in both places and just expected that one of us would take care of her. She adjusted well and all was going smoothly.

On Friday of this past week, Andrea noticed Trixie wasn’t moving around well, so Darren took her to the vet on the following Monday. Tuesday brought the results of x-rays and the bad news – Trixie had a fast growing heart tumor that was bleeding. It was time to say Goodbye.

Darren took her for a walk and Andrea met them to sit with Trixie and tell her about all the love we felt for her and all of the lives she touched.

Goodbye, good friend and companion. Thank you to all who loved her, and especially to Darren and Andrea, who so kindly and lovingly made the last moments for Trixie so special.

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