Taking Our Best Memories Along Part II
With the potential sale of our house pending, the subject has come up of the bittersweetness of leaving behind a home where we have so many happy memories with so many pets. In the summer of 2014 I completed a project here that was very close to my heart – a memorial garden for all of those pets. I am sad to leave that behind, but I will be taking many parts of it with us, and creating a new garden at our new home.
This trellis holds a tag for each pet that lived with us at our current home but have since passed on.
Last week we shared about our three cats who first lived with us in our new home. You can read that post by clicking here.
My hubby grew up with dogs, but I had never had one. I grew up with cats and the honest truth is that for a long time I never wanted a dog. I wrote about how all that changed in one of my first blog posts in 2012 “A Spiritual Awakening of Sorts“; how I came to fall in love with dogs is a favorite story of mine and I even reblogged that post in 2014.
I had promised my hubby that when we finally bought our own home we could get a dog. He held me to that and just a few months after moving in we adopted Shelby, a terrier mix, from our local humane society. Shelby loved the outdoors just like we did and when we weren’t just hanging out around our new house, we were hiking and camping.
I enjoyed finding old photos of Shelby and seeing our yard how it used to look. Since then many trees and brush have been cleared, and we added the fenced in yard for the dogs.
I have a favorite story about Shelby and her love of the outdoors. We used to let her run free; back in those days many people did that and my hubby had grown up just letting his dogs hang out loose outside. We found out as new homeowners and new dog owners why that might not be a good idea. We kept an eye on her in the yard, we didn’t leave her outside for hours unattended, but we found out we weren’t watching her as closely as we thought we were.
We got a phone call from the neighbors saying “can we come over and talk to you?”. They didn’t say why but we had a feeling it wasn’t good! As it turns out, Shelby was slipping out of yard at times, and crossing the street to chase the neighbors horse! We felt awful of course, both for the neighbors’ horse and because Shelby had been crossing the road and could have gotten hit or hurt by the horse. We promised to watch her more closely, and of course we did.
We actually put a tie out with a run for her, but she never did like that. If we tied her out, she would just lie in the driveway, she wouldn’t explore or do her business…she would just lie there. I don’t remember what we did after that, I guess we only tied her out when we needed to and the rest of the time were outside with her watching her. We didn’t fence in the yard until many years later when we got our beagle Kobi.
Shelby was a wonderful dog and a perfect first dog. She got along great with our cats. Sadly, she died from lymphoma at only 6 years old. You can read about that in my post “Give Cancer the Paw – Shelby’s Story” and I also wrote more of Shelby’s story in a series I wrote many years ago: “My Life of Pets in Photos: My First Dog“.
The year Shelby died was a rough one; my Dad had major surgery, then came Shelby’s cancer diagnosis, and our cat Miss Bones, who I wrote about last week, was killed by the neighbor’s dog. Shelby died in the summer, and my mother died in the fall. But the high points in that awful year were the new pets that joined our home, and I’ll share about them in my next post in this series.
Today we are joining the Thursday Barks & Bytes blog hop. Thank you to our hosts 2 Brown Dawgs blog, and Heart Like a Dog. Please visit other blogs through the links below!
Aw, I love your memorial set up with all the tags. I imagine it must sound soothing on windy days?
That’s what I imagined it would do, but it never did tinkle like I wanted it to (even the bell on the trellis didn’t)! That area is surrounded some by trees, so I think maybe they blocked a lot of the wind. When we move to the new house, I’m hoping to put it in a more open area to get that effect.
Sounds like a good plan – I hope you’ll get it to “sing” for you 🙂
Memories truly are special moments lingering in our hearts aren’t they? As you begin to fold, pack and discard try to focus on all the new memories you will create in your lovely new home. So excited for you.
Shelby sounds like a great dog. I can’t believe she was chasing a horse. I guess there was a herding breed in her…lol. Thanks for sharing on the hop.
I wish they had DNA tests back then so we could have found out what was in her! She loved to chase (and kill) rodents too, so the terrier definitely stood out. Maybe she thought horses were big rodents – LOL.
What incredible memories you have. We know you will cherish them always. As I told you before, I plan to do a trellis with all the kitties tags. I have one from all those who are no longer with us. I don’t know if I have ones for the dogs. I may have to make some like you did. This will be a spring project. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
I can’t wait to see how yours comes out! Please be sure to let me know when you do it, so I don’t miss it – I’m assuming you will be sharing it on your blog. 🙂
I love that you are able to bring your memorial with their tags on it to your new home. ♥ ♥ I’m sure Pierre would chase a horse if given the chance! BOL!
Ha, those terriers will chase anything, won’t they? 🙂
What great memories of Shelby. We love your trellis with the tags hanging on it. What a great way to remember those that came before.
I saw it on a Facebook page and just had to do it!
That is sooo sweet hanging the tags!
We’re actually fixing to put our home on the market, it’s going to be busy for us the next couple weeks as we prep and stage our home.
Glad you’re close to closing! Wish us luck!
Good luck to you!! I actually enjoyed the staging part, it was kind of fun. But the negotiating…not so fun. LOL We’re almost there…..
Great story – it’s fun to look back on your old dogs…and you old pajamas!
Memories sure are good at times like this
Lily & Edward
What a beautiful dog Shelby was. I can imagine having a first dog like her, could definitely make you fall in love with dogs.
I remember as a kid having dogs we just let outside too. Of course we weren’t as countrified as you are, so we did have some animals get hit. 🙁
I love your memorial garden and I thank you for sharing Shelby’s story with us on the hop.
Ugh, we’re not country enough (another reason to move – our new home will be much more country!), we lost our second dog to getting hit by a car. Another sad story from this house, and a memory I won’t mind leaving behind. (she didn’t run loose but got away from our neighbor who was caring for her – she was a car chaser so always on leash near the road).
What a beauty she was, so many great pictures and memories.
what a bad year you had… sometimes we have not even a minute to breathe before the next bad thing comes and hit us :o( I enjoyed to read about Shelby, it reminded me about our first time here… the huskies made a tunnel under the fence and caught a rabbit… sadly from our neighbors stable :o( Then we alcatrazzed our property, it was uncomfy somehow to search the dogs with a checkbook on board :o)
Oh my goodness, that sure was a rough year. I’m glad you have some time to gather your memories and make plans before you have to move, it’s so hard when people who have memorable histories in a house have to pack up and move quickly. Shelby sure is a cutie; I can see the gentle soul in her.
Yes, this process has seemed so slow, but that is one good thing about it!
What a great story, Shelby sure had a great life, even though too short. I am like you, always a cat person although we had dogs growing up. I remember when Brad and I bought this place we had to decide, cat or dog, although we still had Danny (cat) our first year here. But Brad said he got too attached to dogs and we went with cats. Let’s just say, you get too attached to them too. Which is obvious with your memorial garden.
They all steal your hearts – cat or dog!
Shelby is a cutie! Growing up Mom had a husky who used to escape, run up the street and chase horses too. One day that guy called and told them if he caught the dog chasing horses again he would shoot him. It was nearly impossible to keep him from running away, but we did our best and he never got shot. Katie also enjoyed chasing horses in Germany and got herself in some trouble. I guess some dogs just enjoy it. The trellis is such a nice memory idea. At least it can go with you.