Goodbye, my Zia girl.

Well, this isn't the next news I planned to share here, but here we are. 

We lost our Zia girl yesterday at 11 years old. Since December, she's been limping slightly. Late January, she was hardly putting weight on her front leg at all. We took her to two vets. Both agreed it was likely a tumor somewhere (her shoulder was very swollen, so, likely there). Within days into the start of February, her leg began swelling...the whole thing. At times, Jarrod lifted her up and down stairs. She was refusing her dry dog food, and was on pain meds twice a day. We knew the time was coming, but weren't sure when. Yesterday she let us know it was time. Jarrod and I took her and held her while her pain left her body.

Cooking dinner last night, I lost it when she wasn’t there at my feet. She was always at my feet or at the rug at the kitchen sink. When she would try to get in to the cat food, I would come out and say, “It’s not for you.” She would still try. She would try to get into the trashcan, she loved jumping up on the table to get food, even eat a few pies and cookies and cupcakes off of the counter at times. In the office, her favorite spot was under my desk. She fit there perfectly, and so often, she warmed my feet while I worked. She laid on my side of the bed and warmed it before I came up, and sometimes she would stay between Jarrod and I or at my feet all night long. Always on my side. When Jarrod had movie nights with the kids, she would sleep with me in bed right across where Jarrod’s pillow would be. When I showered, she laid on the bath rug and waited for me. In the mornings when I got ready, there she was. If the kids weren’t awake yet, she laid outside their doors and waited for them to come downstairs. She followed us as we homeschooled this past year for the first time. She loved her little humans so much. When in our backyard, she would race the neighboring Labs across the whole fence. Yesterday, our neighbor messaged me and told me his dog wanted to be out by the fence all day, and they didn’t know why. He was waiting for his friend Zia, and she never came. 

We miss you already, our sweet girl. Our lives will never be the same.

12/23/09-2/15/21

Always waiting outside the kids' rooms for them to wake up in the morning.

A few nights ago with her buddy, Samson.

About an hour before we took her. :(

One of her favorite places...and ours. :) The Outer Banks.