Jodi left us this morning to join her brother "Mac" and mother "Tory" and all her other siblings at the Rainbow Bridge. She had battled cancer for some time and it was a case of three strikes and you're out. Mammary cancer returned and while her spirit never faltered her body broke down. The tumor balooned on Monday night and she was in a lot of pain. Luckily I had some heavy duty pain killers in anticipation of this happening and we kept her comfortable for the next day, but it was obvious the cancer was only going to get worse and she couldn't live on those pain killers so she was sent on her way this morning. She died peacefully with her head on my lap and a smile on her face. Pain free finally. Only Monday she had led the charge to the field fence when a turkey was sighted on the brush pile!
Jodi loved to show when she started out, but she had to switch handlers after several months and something happened and she lost that joy of showing she had with her first handler. After she finished, she never went back in the ring, and she lost her trust in people. She was my shadow for most of her life. I remember when she was born. I had gone to bed thinking there were no more puppies, only to be woken by my husband who had remained with Tory to be told "you have your show bitch"--all the other puppies had been males except one female with a single crown. She was the boss of the litter and remained the leader of our pack for a long time until her daughter "Cat" quietly usurped her position.
She will be missed by her family; she was a difficult child, but she was our difficult child and we loved her dearly. Living on the farm she was able to live the sort of life she wanted. She was free to hunt and grub around in the woods for whatever she could find to eat--she would never have gone hungry in the wild!
She had two litters during her lifetime and produced some really nice puppies, but most went to pet homes. The exception was Alice Caplinger's Clara Valley So Phenomenal, and Sophie became the mother of the Rudd's Stevie and Alice's Cleo and grandmother to Alice's Lindy and the Sweet 16 litter. At home she leaves behind another daughter "Cat" and her grandson, "Hintza". She wasn't the best of mothers, but she did love her grandchildren, rather like her own mother who was always much happier with her grandbabies than she ever was with her own.
There is a very large empty space in our house tonight.
Caroline
