Rainbow Bridge - Spirit MACH U-ACHX Madison's Redchief Forever SH, CD,
MXP, MJP, NAC, NGC, NJC, CGC, WDX Last night, on the way to the emergency clinic, Spirit, my soul mate died in my arms. She was going downhill fast, but waited for Mike to come to drive us to the vet. I cradled her in my arms (even with a sling and cast on). When Mike went into the building, Spirit and I talked together. I told her it was okay to go, and she obeyed, as always. She went on her terms just as she did her entire life. She slipped away as we whispered together. I was blessed to have such a special dog. Others went before her and others will follow, but none could ever take her place. I feel like a part of me has gone, and indeed it has. I believed that the Earth would surely stop t’s rotation when Spirit left this world, such was the effect of her life on mine. Fifteen years ago, I fell in love with a little red Cocker Spaniel girl named Ruby. I saw her coming through a hedge row with a large cock pheasant. I knew then and there that I wanted what I saw in her in a puppy. After talking Trish Jackson into breeding her to my Chief, I was elated to hear that Ruby had gotten pregnant via surgical insemination. While carrying the litter, Ruby finished her Master Hunter title less than two weeks from her delivery. Pat Perry and I were judges that day and no one could deny that the little cocker spaniel did her work with heart and style. When Trish called to say the litter was born, I knew the red girl was mine, sight unseen. I never doubted that decision, even when Trish asked me to wait for puppy evaluations. I never wavered and never looked back. Spirit was mine for life. She came to me as a little ball of red hair and grew to be a force of nature and grew into my soul. Spirit and I did everything together, from field trials in Maine to agility and obedience in California. She was the first dog in history to qualify in three performance events at an American Spaniel Club national specialty. She earned her first Senior Hunter leg one morning, her first Excellent Agility leg that afternoon, and two days later her first CDX leg. We never finished that one. The stays in obedience were our downfall. I guess she never could understand why it made a difference if she sat or went down. We qualified for and attended quite a few AKC National Agility Championships and managed to wind up on the placement podium at the end the weekend in Denver 2001. Spirit sparkled in the field. When she ran, there seemed to be a special beam of sunshine which just lit her up. When I took her up to a trainer in Massachusetts, we got out of the van and Pat wanted to see her work. He got a bird out and shot it over a swampy area. Of course Spirit returned with it, she rarely failed a retrieve. When running in a Maine field trial, she earned the coveted gunner’s award as the dog the gunners would most like to hunt over. Her nose was second to none. Spirit was all about work from the first. Even as a puppy, she had to play games with meaning. Very rarely would she let her hair down to cut loose in unbridled enthusiasm. It was all about work. Toss games became formal retrieves, heeling was head up, on toes. In her later life, she would find a tennis ball and come to me with that look in her eyes – “come on, Mom, it’s time to go do something.” Spirit came to me a puppy and left with a part of my inner being. I will remember her running in a green field hunting pheasant, racing around the agility course and, most of all, draping her neck over mine in a very special embrace. Some of my memories include her swimming after the ducks on the lake when we moved. She always thought she might get them one day. One of my first memories with Spirit was taking the big dogs down to the water the weekend I took her home. As we were wading in the water and tossing bumpers with splashing and fun, there goes this little football shaped puppy swimming around Trish's legs! What fun we had. And what a ride we had through her life. I miss her each moment of each day. I especially miss seeing her lay on her special spot next to my bed. Her spot was always next to me on the bed and when she was no longer able to climb up on the bed, she chose to be next to me anyway. I know Spirit is in a better place. She no longer bears the pain and insult of disease. Maybe now she will catch one of those ducks. I picked up Spirit’s ashes last night. It seems so surreal. Her entire being is in one small container. I know that her spirit is not contained in a neat little package. Her spirit is in me. Goodbye, my Sweet Angel Girl. Edie Allyn |
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