It's hard saying good bye to such a special part of your life. Annie was my birthday gift from Kevin the first year we were married. I almost gave her away several times that first year. Once, when she ate Hayley's grape lip gloss and we saw it in several piles on the floor in the a.m. That same night, I'm not sure which was first, but she also chewed all the arms and legs off Hayley's Fisher Price doll house family. We never found the limbs. I told Hayley it was okay to have a family w/ special needs. She wasn't convinced.
Annie Uhls... our 1st family pet
Saturday, 16 May 2009 00:00 | Written by Kevin Uhls | 
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It's hard saying good bye to such a special part of your life. Annie was my birthday gift from Kevin the first year we were married. I almost gave her away several times that first year. Once, when she ate Hayley's grape lip gloss and we saw it in several piles on the floor in the a.m. That same night, I'm not sure which was first, but she also chewed all the arms and legs off Hayley's Fisher Price doll house family. We never found the limbs. I told Hayley it was okay to have a family w/ special needs. She wasn't convinced.Annie was waiting at the door when every baby was brought home from the hospital (however, she did express her sentiment w/ a ceremonial dump by the front door each time.....), she walked beside the stroller proudly on every outing, tolerated her eyes being poked, ears being pulled, cowboy gear being attached, rubber bands being placed on her paws like bracelets (which didn't feel good, I'm sure). I think the most recent endurance was when Ben covered her completely with blankets because he was pretending they were camping. Let's not forget the fact, she survived living overseas in Belgium, although, I'm sure she was as sick of the rain as we were! I think her favorite place was Florida....as she laid on the patio every morning sunning by the pool before it got too hot.
She only believed she was a retriever twice, with the first time, she brought me a baby bunny, very proudly dropping it at my feet. She played with it, but unfortunately, the bunny didn't survive. The second time her instincts kicked in, we lived in Florida. We had a pond in our backyard.....she saw several geese fly into the pond....she broke into a dead run, diving beautifully into the water, AS A RETRIEVER SHOULD, and then, after swimming about, oh, three seconds, she decided she wasn't a retriever after all and came walking out quite disgusted w/ her wet fur and stood by the door demanding I dry her off and let her inside. Otherwise, Annie was the lady in waiting around the house.
She really has had a tough year with the arthritis, not being able to get up off the hardwood floor solo. We just began a new round of medications, but the Vet mentioned her kidneys and liver functioning wasn't that great. We tried the new medicines this past week, but not a lot of improvement.
Annie became very ill early this a.m. around 5. Kevin helped her outside, she refused to come in and wanted to lie on the sidewalk. When it began to rain, we brought her in. She continued not to get up and gave us the look that she has had enough. Her breathing became very irregular. We called the vet and he met us at the clinic. He agreed that she has fought enough, and we said good bye to our lady in waiting of 14 years.
The kids all got to say their good byes. I took Annie's collar off before Kevin and I carried her to the car. It was the longest drive to the vet.
I think if we allow animals to be a special part of our life, they do give us so much back.
We'll miss her very much.
Mary Beth
May 16, 2009
Last Updated (Monday, 04 January 2010 11:22)