Read Our Story

Why did mom get me the puppy? I did not know the actual story until after Gabby had passed.  

Gram told me that Mom had seen Gabby cuddled under some other dogs that were not dachshunds, and Mom saw the dachshund body sticking out and asked to see her, knowing I wanted a black and tan female dachshund. Gram apparently got bad information, and Mom told me what really happened towards the end of my efforts creating this website.  I told her what I wrote in Chapter 1, “The Meeting” and she corrected me.

Gabby was in a crate with her littermates at Vivian’s place at the market.  All the dogs in the crate were miniature dachshunds, and at 7.5 weeks old it was the first day they were available. In fact, mom said that Vivian never had different breeds of dog available at the same time, or more than one litter of anything for sale. There was no way that Gabby was hiding under a different breed of dog as Gram had said.

Mom was talking to Vivian and glancing over at the dachshund puppies in the crate.  Most of them were playing with each other and ignoring what was going on outside, while Gabby was sitting in the corner with another puppy. When Gabby saw my mom, she got up and walked right over to her.  She got as close as she could to my mom, right up to the bars of the crate. The other puppies ignored Mom, but Gabby stood there and would not take her eyes off her, staring her down.

Seeing the puppy would not take her eyes off her, Mom bent down and looked at her, saw how cute she was, and fell in love with her.  As she and Gabby stared at each other she thought, “Oh my God, you are so cute!  I am not even a crazy dog lover, but I can’t let you stay here. I can’t take in a dog right now, but I will get you and give you to Don! He will take care of you!”

People have told me about their dogs picking them, and that happened to me with Gabby, through my mom. And all her life, in almost 18 magical years, I never even knew it.

I ended the call with my Mom, now knowing the true story. It was a shock and quite emotional for me. All of a sudden, I felt connected to Gabby as I never had before.  I felt nothing but pure, joyful love coming from her from somewhere, completely enveloping and saturating me. I have never felt anything like it.

Darlene had told me, “She loved you as much as you loved her.” I don’t know if any human is capable of the kind of pure, bright, joyful, complete and uncomplicated love I felt at that moment. I will never forget it. That must be how our dogs love us.

Now knowing how it actually began, I experienced our entire life together again, but all within a single moment as I felt this love permeating me. Our years and adventures together took on a whole new meaning.

Coming home as a tiny 7-week old puppy…

Every play session in the yard…

Everything she did to make me laugh…

Every road trip…

Every adventure together, from playing Gabby Golf Tag in the Deep South, to relaxing under a tree together looking at the big Canadian sky…

All the tough times we shared together, too…

All the love, the companionship, the incredibly tight bond we shared… the best thing that ever happened to me, and the happiest days of my life…

…were all because of her.  She made it happen.

She was put on Earth to be a dog, to be someone’s dog. That was her mission in life, and through my mom, she chose me… to be MY dog, and to share her life with me. I could not help but feel she knew exactly what she was doing during that magic moment years ago as she stared at my mom. I saw it in my mind’s eye as if I was there.

The little dog who stuck to me like glue… who played with me, kept me company, slept under my arm every night, and brought love and smiles and laughter everywhere she went… who made me so incredibly happy… I owed her even more than I knew.

I did not think my little dog could be any more special, or that I could have loved her any more.  I did not know how wrong I was. Knowing how she made her way to me made her even more precious.

People talk about “letting go” of a loved one.  I will go forward, but I will never let go of my little girl. I will love and cherish her forever, until I see her again on the other side…

…my little Gabby.