the Flores 5: RIP Spunky

This post is in memory of our loyal, sweet dog Spunky who passed away yesterday.

We adopted/rescued Spunky in 2005. She had been used (hate that) for breeding and was guessed to be about 3 at that point. Apparently she was abandoned. She was the most frightened tiny thing when she first arrived at our house. It didn't take long for her to warm up, to me in particular. Pretty shortly after she began following me (along side Winky) everywhere I went. When we rescued blind Braille a year later, she and him were instant companions. We called her his seeing eye dog. She was truly a wonderful dog; very protective of those she loved and more loyal than any dog I have seen. When I left the room, she'd whine until I came back.

For about a week, she seemed a bit off. Then on Friday night, she seemed really sick. I tried to nurse her back to health (force feeding her water and chicken broth with a syringe) to no avail. Saturday, after Kyler's soccer game it was apparent she was really sick. We broke the news to the kids (hardest thing to do), had them say their goodbyes in case and Jared took her to the emergency vet. Turned out she had cancer. Apparently had it for a while with no symptoms and by the time the symptoms began showing, it was too late. She was weak, in pain and not going to make it. The vet strongly urged Jared to make the call to let her go peacefully. He agreed. (Words cannot express how thankful I am he did this as I would not have been able to). We, of course, are having a very difficult time letting her go but feel relieved she is no longer in pain.

We have many loving memories featuring our little Spunkers. She was a wonderful friend to have for as long as we were blessed to have her.

Just a year and a half ago, we said goodbye to Winky, my dog for 14 years. I used to have 3 following dogs, now I have one (Zed doesn't follow me). It will take a while to recover from this, but as long as we have our memories, she will never truly be gone.

Here are a few of my favorite photos over the years:

Braille always slept atop of Spunky like this