When I was ten years old, I went to the animal shelter with my parents to pick out a puppy for my sister’s birthday. While walking down the rows of cages, I saw a just lying down. As I approached the cage, she lit up with happiness. We asked one of the workers if we could take her out of the cage to play with her. Walking out of her cage, she kept her right leg off the ground. That’s when the workers noticed something might be wrong and took her for x-rays. They informed us that her leg had been broken and that they would have to amputate it. Since she would only have three legs, my parents weren't sure if they wanted this dog to be a gift anymore. I begged my dad for the dog. 

I told him, “No one will love a three-legged dog like we will.”

“Fine, we will get the dog,” he responded. From that day on, we gained a new part of our family.   

After having Saddie for eight years, around November 2018, she slowly started going blind. When she would dart to the door to go outside, she always ran right into it, or she would hobble into walls when turning corners. We just thought she was losing her balance and didn’t think much of it at the time. 

I asked my dad, “Do you think Saddie is going blind?”

My dad replied, “I’m not sure. but let’s test it out.”
In front of our door, my dad put an olive-colored chair to see what would happen. We called our dog over to go outside, and sure enough she ran right into the chair with a thud. That’s when my entire family started to get suspicious of what could be happening to her. After a month of her being blind, she started to lose weight rapidly. We would feed her, and she would eat it but would still lose weight. She started to look like a frail skeleton with fur. Every bone peaked through her skin. When I would pet her, my fingers skimmed over every ridge in her body. That’s when we figured out our dog was slowly dying. She was a walking corpse.  

After another month of her being blind and basically skin and bones, it was

December. We didn’t know how, but Saddie was still living her best life. She ran around and continued to play with her ball. When a month passed, not much had happened other than her tripping clusters of time. She would randomly fall when standing outside to go to the bathroom, or she would fall when sprinting around our house. There was this incident that we thought for sure she had died. She was at the top of our stairs; then there was a crash. She fell right through the bronze railing on our stairs and landed at the bottom. 

I gazed at my mom, and she replied, “Don’t say it.” 

I knew she didn’t want me to ask, Did Saddie die? Could this be it for her?

Nope, Saddie jumped right up and dashed away as if nothing had happened.

Not much happened in the month of January. It was the same old, same old as the previous months. However, on January 28,  Saddie had no desire to move. She would lay on the same stiff rug and only would get up to go to the bathroom. She also stopped eating her food. This continued on for four days. 

February 1, I started my day by jumping out of bed. I got ready for school by putting on my denim jeans, doing my dirty blonde hair, and brushing my teeth. Once I was ready, I trotted downstairs and into the living room. That’s when I saw our dog, Saddie, lying in her usual spot on the plush carpet. She lay there with little to no motivation to move, almost lifeless. I gave her a pat on her boney head before I left for school.

 I arrived home at 3:15 and opened the front door. I moseyed to the living room, and that's when I saw her. In the same spot. Not moving or breathing this time. That’s when I knew she had finally passed. Our dog died. My heart stopped while my eyes filled with tears. My sister tiptoed to where I was and became still. She then dropped to her knees and sobbed out loud till the floor flooded with tears. I called my dad to tell him what happened. 

He sped home as fast as his truck could take him. He opened the door and walked over to Saddie and gently picked up her limp body as if it were a bag of feathers. As he held her in his arms, I watch as he paced outside with her. While my dad and sister were outside, I called my mom right away to let her know what had happened. 

After Saddie died, my family hadn’t realized how much she changed our lives. It was heartbreaking to go home and not see her waiting at the door when we arrived. From that day on, we lost a part of our family.