11/27/2002 - 01/29/2022
Oh - tough post to write.. Sasha died last Saturday, .... 19 years old. Working hard to be grateful for how much time we got - we got so much time -. But there is an emptiness in this house - a Sasha size space missing now; i just love her so fiercely, it seems impossible that she is not here - won't be here.. trying to be grateful for the time i did get, but i wanted more...
She was so fast - we couldn't catch her if she was was after something... too fast. Big prey drive - chased birds, mice - caught more than a few too... Also tennis ball OBSESSED - i remember whenever I would get sick of throwing the tennis ball - I would always try to throw it another five minutes - thinking one day - she won't want the tennis ball anymore and I would miss it. She enjoyed her tennis ball obsession, though got a lot slower as she got older until she was about 15ish... before giving it up... I missed it, I bet she missed it too.
We started fostering in 2010. Sasha was about 8 years old. The intent was to get another dog. Sasha never really played with any of the foster dogs - didn't care for the hyper and playful ones. The nappers - those she enjoyed and didn't mind so much. Skittles, Sissy and Skeeter would good nappers - some of her favorites that would almost snuggle with. We fostered over 50 dogs with New Rattitude (and a few with a local rescue WAGS) - she was a good mama dog to them - showing them the ropes. How to get treats, where to potty - how to nap. Most of the dogs looked up to her... and if they got too hyper - she would just do a slow walk by and they would stop playing... we would call her the fun police - since she could stop all playing - just by her presence.... resuming once she was out of sight... I did adopt Skeeter in 2014 - they were good buddies.. After Skeeter died 2019 and Sasha's eyesight was failing - she would always sniff new dogs a little differently - I think she would trying to sniff out Skeeter.
I could go on and on about Sasha - she was part of our lives for nearly two decades. I do know that we didn't waste these last few years with her. The past 5 years have been rough - I lost my dad, Cassie's cat Sarah died, Skeeter died - Mike's two cats died.. some family and friends that I loved died. It's been a time of loss and I knew how lucky I was to have Sasha and have her in good health for so so long. She was with me through all that grief making it better. So we made sure to take her on vacations; get her to the water that she loved so much as often as possible. She had a blast a Camino Island and Soap Lake last year... Bought a stroller so she could go on walks. I would just take her alone to the pet store or the coffee shop for treats. As long as she was here, I wanted the time to be spent well- no regrets and I got that. I will never not love her.
