Heidi's Memorial

February 20, 2012

Heidi was our 5 month old rescue from a home that loved her but did not know the breed.  She came to us without training, weighing in at 70 lbs. I know someone up there was laughing at us because we had just said no to a rescue because she was going to be too big. Heidi just kept growing and growing and growing and was the biggest female saint known to everyone who saw her. Since I am petite, Heidi, who trained easily since she was pleasing us, stood nearly as tall as my waist. In her mind, she was always a lap dog and would back up to the sofa and plant her body next to you so she could be loved. Her eyes had a way of seeing into your deepest soul, a fact proven to us time and again when she knew we loved her and withstood the pain of surgery and healing for her underdeveloped joints. 

She was a good judge of character, too. When walking her, everyone wanted to love her because she was a traffic stopper at 165 lbs. and over 36 in. in the shoulders. When 3 tattooed men approached and I became nervous about both them and how she would react, she just looked at them, and then proceeded to snuggle into their laps. And when first rescued, although she was scared of having a hose turned on her, she proceeded to allow me to bathe her because she knew she would be towel-dried afterward. To the end, when the towel came out, she would charge it like it was a bull fight; while we, on the other hand, had to brace ourselves for her running between our legs and burying her head.

In her five short years, Heidi amazed us with her never ending love. She adopted our daughter’s English Bull puppy, Tony and would allow him to hang on her jowls and curl up in her front paws. Never mind that one of those paws could flatten him. Even at the end she provided us with laughter through the tears. When at the vet for the last time, the tech looked at the file and I saw his face fall. They had brought a pillow wrapped in a blanket for her to rest on while we waited. Tiring with the wait, Heidi and Rex went outside to rest in the car. When the assistant approached me and said Heidi, he proceeded to look under the blanket for her. With a laugh shared between us, I introduced him to Heidi, our oversized lap dog. So when we at Sunny Saints tell you to “Get Rescued”, we hope that you too will have moments and years to cherish how much love these wonderful dogs give.

-Debbie McDonald