To Reva

Our sweet girl Reva (Ch. Blueberry’s Best Served Cold) passed away peacefully late Wednesday night.

She had two really great weeks from when we learned she had cancer — happy, playing in the yard with our other two dogs, getting spoiled rotten.

And then Wednesday when I got home from work, as soon as I saw her, I knew she had had a bad day. She’d seemed fine in the morning but as the day went on, she had trouble breathing; my brother had already made an appointment at the vet for the following day.

I couldn’t sleep though, so was watching TV in the family room, very near to where she was asleep in her crate. Around 11 pm or so, she yelped, so I picked her up and we sat peacefully together for 20, maybe 30 minutes as I stroked her. Then she had a couple mild convulsions and was gone.

I will miss her terribly for the rest of my life, but am so grateful that she did not suffer terribly and that I was with her at the end, in our home not in the scary vet’s office.

It is always too soon when a pet dies, and here, doubly so as she was only 8.5 years old. Far too young.

Her mother lived to nearly 14, so I thought I had years left with her. And while I try to treat all my animals equally, Reva was special for me. So special. It has taken me nearly 3 days to be able to write this post because you can’t type when you are bawling.

Let me tell you about Reva. So you will know how special she was too.

For the first year of her life, she lived partly with us but mostly with my co-owner who showed her to her championship in June 2005. Then she came to stay with me full-time, but the intention was that we would place her with a family.

Reva, however, was having none of that. She wanted to stay, and wormed her way indelibly into my heart. She became my dog.

She was obsessed with light and shadows. She would stare at a patch of sunlight for hours. And the laser pointer? The laser pointer was the only toy she really loved.

She loved to eat ice cubes.

When we did obedience, she was fine with sit, down and heel but the concept of sit-stay was a non-starter. “You want me to do WHAT as  you walk away?”

When she was happy and getting attention, she made these snorty sounds that we came to call “pig-dog.”

She was a terrific mum. Although she wasn’t too thrilled with anyone but me handling her puppies.

When she was a puppy she nibbled through the drywall in the dog room in our old house. Who knows why? She was a very mouthy bitch all her life. She would talk to you. Long stories 🙂

 Loved to chase feet. Mine in particular, although since we consolidated households with my mother and brother last Spring, Mum experienced the “Reva Nibble” quite a lot as well. 

Once when she was very young, I apparently wasn’t getting the food down fast enough so she jumped up and nipped me on the ass, a story that my son LOVES to retell. 

When she was about 8 months old, her half sister Carly (GCH Blueberry’s Attitude Dancing) won the breed at Westminster, and my co-owner and I were interviewed by the local paper and New England Cable News. Since Carly was still out showing with her handler, Reva was the “demo dog” and appeared on TV and in the paper.

For the past five years, Reva and her son Cash have been nearly inseparable  except for the few months when Cash (Ch. Blueberry’s Cold Cash) was with our handler. I am sure he misses her as much as we do.

There is a Reva shaped hole in our hearts.

Love you Reva. Always.