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It's On My Heart
Greetings!
A Life Well Lived, Tribute to Pixie
May and I just went through one of the best Christmases and one of the saddest we can recall. I apologize now because this is not the business centered message you have seen from me in the past, this is personal, and I will let you into our immediate family circle.
You have heard of Pixie, our American Staffordshire Terrier we have loved for over a decade. And you probably know where I am going, but I gotta go there. About a year ago, we noticed Pixie was having a hard time getting up the stairs at our home. She is old, not sure how old, since she is a rescue dog that we brought into our home 11 years ago.
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I'll start there.  Our son Jon was in the horse show business, he brought Pixie to our house when he had to go out of town for a show. May was not happy, she said Pixie could stay at our house if she stayed outside. She stayed outside one night, the next night in our hallway, third night in our bedroom, never left after that. In fact, when Jon came home, she barked at him, she was ours.
She was a powerful dog, yet about as mild as they come. One memorable day May came home and Pixie followed her around the house, just wagging that tail. You have no idea what they are thinking, they can't talk very well, their tongue is real long, and attached to the bottom of their mouth, not good for speaking. So May says, what do ya want, maybe a brushing? She goes out on the back porch, brushed her for about 8 minutes. Pixie then went over to the side of the patio, spit out a live bird she had been carrying in her mouth! Still live! So she was not a killer, she was a lover.
We moved to Colorado, and I really thought she would not be happy. It is cold here, and she had always lived in sunny Phoenix. She loved it. We would go for a walk in the winter, it could be 11 degrees, she would just start out and keep going. She would go as long as I would, probably longer if I let her.
So she became part of our lives, as these animals always do. About the third year up here, we noticed she had slowed down. Hard to get up and down the stairs, and we had a two story home. In the last six months, it got to be really hard on her. When she did get up the stairs, she gasped for air for the next minute or two, just completely winded. She had both of her back legs operated on about 8 years ago, replaced the ACL ligaments. Now she could barely operate those legs, they had just gotten stiff, or maybe arthritis, she groaned whenever she got up in the morning.
We had a friend who is a vet come over last month, and check her out. She said Pixie had tumors all over her body, gave her 4 months to live, maybe less. So we made plans, as best you can.
A month later, she can't make it up the stairs. On Monday morning before Christmas she came up lame, could not put her right front leg down. For the last month she couldn't get out the doggy door, so she had accidents fairly regularly. We called the vet, she was busy, but was able to come out and see us on Tuesday night before Christmas, 8:30 PM.
It started snowing Tuesday afternoon, by evening we had lots of snow on the ground. We were afraid she wouldn't come, she came anyway. She came fully prepared, had a stretcher in the back of her SUV, blankets, everything that might be needed.
We had a good-bye session with Pixie, the other two dogs knew something was up. Our big Doberman, Noah, was really agitated all afternoon. Our son Mike came over to support us, the dog was either by his side or ours, anxious all day, sensing the tension in the home. He would go to the door, bark, go out, come right back in again. He definitely knew something bad was on tap, just not sure what. Noah always has been the emotional one, he reads people really well.
Dr. Leslie Leach is our vet, an angel in disguise. She was completely in control, asked us lots of questions, gave us time to say good-bye, all the right stuff. She gave Pixie a tranquilizer to settle her down, even though she was pretty mellow. Noah needed the shot, not Pixie. We said our goodbyes, and she gave her another shot that put her to sleep.
It was one of the toughest things we have ever done. These animals love you unconditionally, don't ask for much in return. Even a month later, it is hard to talk about her, she was involved so much with our daily activities. May loves to take the dogs to Starbucks. Yes, we go to Starbucks. The dogs love it, they get pupacinos. That is a small cup of whipped cream or foamed milk. Pixie got skinny (low fat) milk, she was on a diet. All May had to say was "Coffee", and they were at the door. The Starbucks people loved her as well, they gave her treats and brought out water for the dogs when we showed up. So we still go, just 2 dogs now, instead of 3.
Just talked to David Rames. He is a rep for Koch Air in Paducah, KY. I met him at Comfortech in Sept. We talked for a while, I gave him a Pixie business card, he told me he and his wife had just put down one of their three dogs. I heard from him thirty days later, he had just put down the second dog! Both to health issues, I don't know how you do two back to back. He did. And he is now part of a Boxer rescue program in Kentucky, he is a foster home for one and just adopted another one. So he is giving back in thanks for the love he received from his dogs.
Here is my point. Live today like it is the only day you have. Thank the creator for having the ability to love, and reach out to those around you who need a kind word. Someone once said, be kind, you do not know what the other person is going through. A good rule to live by, and needed more today than ever. And spend a moment and reflect on how great life is when an animal loves you unconditionally. They are even happier when you get home late, no explanation needed.
Thanks for being part of our electronic family, we'll have a business message later on.
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JIM HINSHAW 
President
Sales Improvement Professionals Inc.
Phone: (602) 369-8097
Email: JimHinshaw@SipTraining.com
Web: www.SipTraining.com
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