Last Train to Clarksville

A New Addition

Friday night, while we were waiting for our son to get home, my husband and I were sitting near the fire, each on our own laptop.  He asked me to look at this site that had a puppy chow chow.  Not too excited about viewing other chow chow’s, I typed it in and saw an adorable puppy but felt I couldn’t do it right now.  The pain is still too fresh in my heart.  He asked me to email the owner and see if the puppy was still available and if he would meet us halfway if we got her.  I was on the computer a total of maybe 5 minutes.  After I emailed the owner, I thought to myself how it would be wonderful to find a puppy that was born on the day that our Angel passed.  (That would be like finding a needle in a haystack to me.)  So, I went to bed with no excitement, not like I would have if the situation was under different circumstances.

A brief history of our Chow Chow experience…

We bought our first chow chow, Cassie, while I was pregnant with our 2nd child.  I was very nervous around this dog because of my past with large animals.  When she was around a little over a year old, I had already had our son and we wanted to drive from Texas to Indiana to let Art’s family see him.  So, we needed to get a house sitter to watch our two dogs, Cassie and Cocoa (our chihuahua).  We were gone for 2 weeks.  When we came home, it was around 3 a.m. in the morning and unloading the car we smelled a bad odor outside and I made a comment that something died around our quarters where we lived on post.  We walked in the home and there were stains all over the home from our chihuahua throwing up.  We called Cassie and she didn’t answer.  Art went outside and he found her dead.  The man who was suppose to watch our animals never came over.  Where we put her outside, she died.  It was inhumane and we contacted the post to ask why, when our neighbors called about Cassie, didn’t they do anything or someone contact us?  They said they didn’t see an animal! Our neighbors told us when she passed but they didn’t do anything, just left her there in the Texas heat, they said they tried to give her water but… 

Well, this man felt really bad and gave us money for our suffering to purchase another dog.  After a month we decided to find another chow chow.  That is when we found Angel.  The litter she was part of was born the day that we lost Cassie.  So we called her our Angel. 

I guess that is why I silently prayed it would be nice to find a litter born the day that our Angel passed because that was when and what made us get her; the date she was born. What happened to our life after she entered it made us who we are with our animals today. To find a puppy born on the day she passed would be a way to honor her life and give another one the chance at a wonderful life in our home like she had. It was so good for her that she didn’t want to leave us. I mean, she lived a long, healthy life to just a couple of months shy of 16 years!  She waited for us to fall asleep before she did.

I thought for sure I wouldn’t find that litter. It made me sad and guilty to even look for it. I felt I just would grieve a life time.  I didn’t even want to look.  Well, the email that came back from the owner said that the puppy we saw had already been sold but that he has 2 other litters. One born on 1/31 and the other 2/9.  He continued in his email but I stopped midsentence and let my eyes go back to the date 2/9.  It was slowly registering that 2/9 was actually February 9th and I got up, running to the calendar to make sure I was seeing things right.  It was the day that Angel passed.

I immediately emailed the owner back asking to see the 2 girls and that I would want one of them. I didn’t know which one but I would choose.  He was so nice and considerate and emailed me that day, pictures of the 2 girl pups and allowed my family to choose which one we felt was to be part of our family.  I had each teenager, child of mine, come into the room and I would pull up both pictures and say, which one?  All three pointed to the same one without knowing their siblings picked the same one.  Then Arty came in and he said the same one everyone else did.

I feel I must say that we didn’t do this to replace our Angel.  She could NEVER be replaced! I thought, “Could this be too soon to bring another animal to our home?”, but the fact we can’t get her until April tossed those thoughts aside.  That is over a month away.  I truly believe our Shih Tzu who was the closest to Angel will be awakened from her mourning to start taking care of a puppy.  She is such a good groomer/cleaner and would always clean Angel’s ears and face when Angel would be sleeping.  This puppy will help heal the loss, or lesson the hurt for her.  The life of a young one in the home will bring joy and laughter, where for the past 14 days straight has been tears and mourning. 

The fact that our Angel was born on Cassie’s day of passing and now this little one was born on the day of Angel’s passing, brings me such a comfort in moving on with life and not staying in the depression of death.  We know that one day we will see her again. The “child” she was for us, being such a big part of our family, makes it so hard to move on.  I know as much as she loved us and lived as long as she did to be part of our family that she felt like one of us and would want us to be happy.  Yes, she is an animal but she cried, she whined, she smiled, she demanded our attention, she told us when she was hungry, when she wanted outside, when she was ready to come inside, when she missed us.  She even started licking my hands and face. I knew then that she really loved me. The only thing that made her different than us is she didn’t speak english.  Her love for us was unconditional.  She couldn’t tell us her disappointments and happiness in words but she expressed it in other ways.

Our oldest always said that Angel was her “guardian angel”.  So, looking at this little puppy who will be coming to live with us for a long time, the Lord willing, I thought about Erikka and how she felt.  So I did some research.  In the Word of God, there is a guardian angel named Gabriel.  His name means “God is my strength”.  Lord knows I am needing Him as my strength to get through this death.  So, I decided to name her the female name of Gabriel: Gabriella.

If you are interested in a chow chow, I highly recommend this owner: RHR Chow Chow.   We are driving to Missouri to pick up our Gabbie in April.  He also will ship them to you.  Read what they have to say about their pets and how they feel.  God led me to this family in less than 5 minutes.  Maybe He is leading you to them through this post.

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I always welcome your comments below!

1. Elizabeth said at February 23rd, 2009 at 5:44 pm

   I think that is the most beautiful and sweet story i’ve ever heard. How great but so sad you must feel at the same time. I hope this brings joy into your families life!

2. Meg said at February 26th, 2009 at 7:23 am

   Thea, Art and Kids,
   So sorry to hear about Angel. She was really sweet. To be able to honor both of your chows in the same way is wonderful. It’s funny how God works, isn’t it? I will keep you in our prayers that your pain and sorrow is short but your memories are long. To your new Gabbie, may she bring you much happiness and love.

3. Steve said at February 26th, 2009 at 9:26 pm

   Sorry to hear of your loss. I never thought of that before but that is a very inspirational way of handling the loss and grieving of a four-legged family member, especially for the kids. And to keep this light, did anyone else notice that Gabbie has Art’s ears?

4. Chow Chow said at February 7th, 2010 at 4:33 pm

   Chow Chow…

   Your post on Last Train To Clarksville ” A New Addition was interesting….

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