My Favorite Memories with Maddie:
- Getting the letter in the mail at Girl Scout camp that my parents had gotten Fargo (her name before we renamed her) and asked me if I liked the name Madison (Maddie for short). I remember I wasn't crazy about the name Madison but once I read "Maddie" I loved it!
-The picture of me meeting Maddie when I came home from Girl Scout camp (4th grade). My parents brought her with to pick me up. I'm wearing a Girl Scout t-shirt in the picture. I looked for the picture, but couldn't find it.
-Taking Maddie to doggy training lessons at Graham Arena with my mom. There was an elderly lady next to us training her teacup poodle named Muffin:)
-Playing tug-of-war with her with a tiny shirt with knots in the sleeves. I would run around the backyard dangling the shirt and Maddie would bite the knot and hold on for dear life. I could even lift her off the ground!
-Giving her baths in the laundry sink downstairs. She got soo skinny when she got wet and her ears got ginormous. We have video of mom and I giving her a bath when I was 13 years old. (We watched the video of it the night before Maddie died.)
-Skyping with my parents when I was away at college and they would bring Maddie into the computer room so I could say hi to her.
-Getting to come home to her everytime I came home from college--she was the best part! (no offense mom and dad ;))
-Giving her "tummy rubbies" and scratching behind her ears so that her back legs would twitch like crazy.
-Recently (in the last year) taking her to the cabin we rented up north and trying to get her to swim in the lake. It was so funny and cute to watch her try. She hates water and she hated us for that.
-Having her at every birthday and Christmas since I was 10.
-Watching her chase squirrels and pounce around like a bunny on walks. Even though she was 13, she had the energy of a puppy her whole life.
-Watching her lay in the sun spots on the sun porch panting because she was so hot, but she liked it! She was my little hot dog :):):)
-Laughing/squealing at her haircuts. Some of them were SO funny. Especially the one in the last year where they cut off her beard so she didn't even look like a Schnauzer (or a dog at all) anymore. She's been compared to:
-Doby the Elf (from harry potter)
-A deer
-A bunny
-A fox
-A cat
....and more that I can't think of right now.
-Having her come to Mizzou for my graduation and getting to have her stay in my college house and meet some of my college roommates. We got to take family pictures holding her in front of the columns. It was just really cool that she got to run around Mizzou's campus and be a part of that weekend because she is FAMILY!:)
-Getting to take cute pictures of her and share them on social media.
-I loved how protective she was. She was a great watch dog on the sun porch. She knew the difference between danger and her family coming home and I kind of liked how she would growl a little when strangers tried to pet her, but knew I was her family.
-How she would go into my parents' bedroom in the middle of the night when it was thunderstorming because she was scared. My mom would say she'd hear little footprints on their wood floor in the middle of the night. SO CUTE!
-One time we came home and she was sitting on top of a pile of pillows on the floor. Like they were her little throne. She's not allowed to sit on pillows! haha
-Sometimes when I would sleep in, my parents would bring Maddie upstairs to try and wake me up. Either by placing her on top of me while i'm trying to sleep or I'd hear my mom go "Maddie!" trying to get her to come in the direction of my bed. She was so cute and confused when she was in a part of the house she wasn't normally allowed to go.
-She was a great dog and so well trained that it was fun to be able to take her on walks without a leash and see her explore and run ahead or stay behind knowing she wouldn't go in the street or run away. Such a smart dog:)
-Flipping her ears inside out.
-Getting to call her mine.
Favorite Quotes:
-A person who has never owned a dog has missed a wonderful part of life. -Bob Barker
-I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to double that time?
-Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them, filling an emptiness we don't even know we have.
-What we have enjoyed, we can never lose...all that we love deeply becomes a part of us. -Helen Keller
-The dog of your boyhood teaches you a great deal about friendship, and love, and death. Old Skip was my brother. They had buried him under our elm tree, they said--yet this wasn't totally true. For he really lay buried in my heart. -My Dog Skip
I remember seeing My Dog Skip when I was younger and bawling when Skip died at the end. He died while the boy was away at college. I always worried Maddie would die while I was away at college, but she never did. She waited for me to be back home living with her to pass away. I'm so grateful she lived 13 1/2 years and got to be a part of my life from ages 10-23. She had a long, healthy and happy life and she didn't leave without a goodbye. I couldn't have asked for a better dog.
xoxo Katie
